THE COILED ERPENT

The Philosophy of
Conservation and Transmutation of Reproductive Energy

C. J. VAN VLIET
The connection of the serpent with sexual matters, is found
all over the world.

THE SERPENT
A serpent twisted in spiral volumes
is the hieroglyphic of evil.

CAUGHT IN the mighty coils of the giant-serpent Sex, —

humanity is on the point of being crushed and strangled. —
That serpent, which in the beginning was intended to serve
human evolution, was foolishly adopted as a pet and unduly
coaxed and fondled. Being overfed and pampered and having
its slightest whims complied with, the pet has grown into a
monster that has overpowered its master, and now threatens
to destroy him.
Out of the choking throat of imperiled humanity the
inner ear can hear a cry for help ascending: a fearful cry
that swells and falls and again rises, pleading for liberation
from the malignant creatures rigid hold.
But there is no response, no outside help forthcoming.
Mans precarious position is entirely self-produced. He
himself it was who gave the creature all the power it now
has by his habitual yielding to its growing demands; and he
himself must remedy this self-created woe by unrelenting
self-exertion.
The serpent, is the monster to be overcome. If man but
wills he can reduce its power. He can brace himself against
the pressure of the uncanny coils. He can in fact subdue the
unwieldy and unruly reptile even yet by opposing its
depraved desires.
 By will he can reduce it to servility again. And then its
valuable hidden power will aid him in his ascent of
evolutions path. Indeed, when conquered the serpent
becomes a means of life. Instead of appropriating the life
force of man, it will then supply him with the greatest
factor that can lead to a higher human existence. The
turbulent serpent of Sex will then be transformed into the
destruction of Wisdom, which will show the way out of
the;human toward the superhuman state.But than must
not delay. He must unloose the coils before the monster
crushes him. The symbol of a snake encoiling the body of
humanity occurs in the mythology of various peoples. And
Oriental literature mentions a serpent coiled up in a
mysterious center of force inside the human body. While
the two are not entirely equivalent, the uncoiling of this
serpent within the body, as of the entwining monster, is
held to be mans evolutionary task.
Records of a serpent symbolism in some form or
another have been found in all parts of the world.
Especially of universal occurrence are the legends about
heroes who conquer an evil serpent. And there can be no
doubt that these legends symbolize the necessity of mans
victory over the domineering influence of sex, for from the
earliest times folk-lore seems to have connected the
serpent with the sexual function. Erudite investigators have
come to the conclusion that the serpent always has a
phallic signification. But what usually mystifies the student
of symbolism is that though the serpent is exhibited as the
representative of the evil principle, it is considered also in
the opposite light. However, where the symbolism has not
suffered in transition there is a notable difference between
the two portrayals. While the evil serpent is coiled, the
serpent of good is always represented, as upright. This is
the transformed serpent, not any more coiled but standing
on its tail, its body slightly curved, reminiscent of the
human spine which plays such an important part in the
actual uncoiling of the serpent. It is still the phallic serpent,
but conquered, tamed, and thereby changed into the most
valuable adjunct of man.Reflective inquiry into various
forms of serpent symbolism shows that they contain a
principle of supreme importance — namely: that every
effort to resist the demands of the sexual urge will
gradually lead to an uncoiling of the serpent, and therewith
to spiritual freedom and un- trammeled evolutionary
growth. But this ultimate result,. cannot be attained
without a conscious realization of ideal purification.
Tremendous purity is the one secret of spirituality — of that
factor of evolutionary attainment which must follow the
acquisition of intellect, but which has almost entirely been
neglected by mankind.

IGNORANCE

The serpent, ever in congress with its infernal counterpart of

ignorance.

HUMANITY Is like a child that is hiding away from its

elders, who call to it because they know that it should
make an effort to develop its abeyant faculties. It is like a
child that wishes to continue to play with distorted images
of real things instead of becoming acquainted with
everlasting realities. It is like a child that persists in
remaining ignorant of the deeper verities of the science of
life.
Humanity plays with life. It plays with sex. It wants to
perpetuate that playing rather than understand natures
eternal laws, rather than unfold its latent spiritual powers.
It would play on until these very powers became stunted
for ever — until, otherwise matured, it would become an
imbecile in regard to spirit.
If the clinging to toys persists, and if ignorance is
claimed as an excuse where there is only flagrant and
purposeful ignoring, there is imminent danger of
incurable idiocy on the spiritual level. Already mankind is
subnormal for its age because it engrosses itself in
precarious material diversions; because it is absorbed in
frivolous emotional games; because it does far too little
real thinking, and remains obstinately ignorant of facts
and laws concerning its own true nature.
Men err in their choice of pleasures, from defect of
knowledge; they are content with the little goods they
have and adhere desperately to these in ignorance of the
greater blessings to which they could attain did they but
open their spiritual eyes. Mental development makes a
child gradually set aside its infantile toys. After a while it
does not want them again, and would not at any price
wish to exchange its arduously acquired mental
enjoyments for a return to the foolish playthings which
amused it when it was ignorant.
So will spiritual unfoldment make man gradually leave
his playing, particularly with such things as were never
meant for play. It will make him rise above the customary
sexual games. After a little while he will not want these
again, will not want to forsake the far greater glorious joys
gained in his spiritual growth for a return to the unwisely
chosen playthings of his period of sensuous amusements.
But through sheer willfulness and cherished ignorance
humanity seems to prefer to go on with its playing, even
with the most sacred treasures on natures altar. Childlike,
it moans if it scorches its fingers when grasping the
sacrosanct vessel in which burns the sacred flame. It
groans when sickness follows the quaffing of the holy
wine. It whines when it is taken from its ungodly perilous
game. It rages when it is threatened with retributary
action of natures exacting laws. And it will not see that all
its misery and suffering result from its own stubborn
persistence in remaining ignorant of spiritual principles.
Such ignorance is unavoidable in the infancy and early
youth of a race. But the large portion of humanity that has
racially arrived at the advanced adolescent stage should
now overcome that ignorance. It should !mow its own
dormant spiritual powers, awaken them, and make them
dominant. It should drop the =sanctioned toying and stop
its wasteful playing with the life force, which is the most
sacred force in nature.

CIVILIZATION
THE ENERGY, of civilization-man is directed out-wards.
It is applied to materialistic and intellectual progress at
the cost of the spiritual. Thus our knowledge has
increased but not our wisdom. Industrial mechanics have
astoundingly evolved, but not the modes of building
character. While we are hastening from moment to
moment we have neither leisure nor repose, for the
development of character.
The stressing of the physical sciences without a
corresponding cultivation of the spiritual factors has
lowered mans sense of his moral power and
responsibility. The most noxious sign of the blight in the
social atmosphere is the openly increasing laxity of
morals. In fact, moral sense is almost completely ignored
by modern society.
The race may be more intellectual than it ever was, but
it is not more spiritual. Intellect preponderates. At the
same time, consciously hardly any one thinks today of
developing the soul. The great intellectual progress has
been achieved to the detriment of soul life. Yet it is the
character of the soul which determines mans level.
Man has learned to control many of natures forces.
But as long as he can not control the forces within himself
there can be no question of real civilization. Control of
appetites is the first step in human culture.
As regards his sexual ethics man has, retrograded.
Although a milder mannerism in sexual expression has
 been adopted by mankind, it has not become less sensual;
rather the opposite. Human culture, has not
carried things further than the putting of a finer polish on,
our animal impulses. The effort of our civilization has been
to domesticate lusts, and now they are found and fostered
in almost every home. In comparison with. the mode of life
which prevailed among mankind for thousands of years we
people of the present day are living in a very immoral age.
Sexual morals have been cast aside. Sexual license would
seem to be the unwritten code of modern society. We find
ourselves, in a welter of urban sensualism and immorality.
Sex tends to permeate to such an extent mans mental
and emotional as well as physical existence that sex and
its expression have become an obsession; and the present
generation stands practically indicted as one of sex-
addicts.
Characteristically one finds in this age of boasted
culture: society saturated with sexual abuses from the
bottom to the top; prostitution flourishing on a
Gargantuan scale; white slave traffic amongst the fastest
growing crimes; abduction and seduction as daily
occurrences; criminal assaults upon children, greatly
increased; abortions more frequent than at any period,
and as lightly looked upon as is the extraction of a tooth;
sexual relationships among students of colleges and
schools; epidemics of venereal diseases, in highschools;
widespread indulgence in perverse sex practices by old
and young, even the very young; sex plays on stage and
screen attracting largest audiences; sex novels finding the
best market; sophistical sex teachings disseminated
without restriction, their popularity resulting from the
fact that they provide excuses for personal weaknesses;
and such a prevalence of male and female troubles that it
would seem that civilization inevitably spells
syphilization.
 Mere animalistic sex expression has no more place in
worthwhile civilization than would mud-huts serve as
modern houses. But in our pseudo-civilization worse than
animalistic sex misuses are indulged in and condoned.
There can be no question of real civilization until a
relentless campaign against the domination of sex is well
on its way. A lessening of the overwhelming influence of
sex is necessary before the race can claim a semblance of
true culture and of becoming spiritualized.
It is just because spirituality has been practically
discarded that sensuality has become paramount; for
there is a close relation, in inverse ratio, between the two:
only where the one is absent can the other rule.
Hence the great need of consciously and
conscientiously approaching a spiritualizing ideal. In
themselves ideals, testify to a high level of civilization —
particularly when they help to bring the spiritual nature to
the fore, the animal nature to the background of human
consciousness. Therefore human nature, must be
modified according to a definite ideal. And the needed
ideal must in the first place diminish the overpowering
fascination of sex.
Because it is not possible to develop, civilization unless
we can inhibit primitive passions, there is as yet no
civilized society. Above all other responsibilities the task
of humanity is to build up a genuine civilization, a corpus
spiritual of mankind — a civilization in which a purified
love, disentangled from all sexual accretions, will come
into its own.

EVOLUTION

WHETHER OR not the materialistic theories about it are

in every way correct, evolution is a fundamental element
in life. It is a change forward and upward, an advancing
from the imperfect to the perfect. Many however mistake
the growth of our civilization for evolutionary progress
and think of these two processes as being synonymous.
But they are neither equivalent nor always parallel.
Evolution brings with it a proportionate degree of true
civilization. But civilization as we know it is not in every
respect the outcome of evolution. Our civilization is
largely the result of an exclusive development of mind, of
a one-sided attention to matter and to material life at the
cost of spiritual development. High mental efficiency is
only then a characteristic of harmonious evolution when it
concurs with commensurate spiritual unfoldment.
Evolution will then not only make man scientific, but — by
letting his unfolding faculties find expression through a
spiritualized mind — it will make him approach
omniscience.
Overdeveloped brain power however, applied
exclusively to material science, is as little a natural
concomitant of or an aid to all around evolutionary
growth as are overdeveloped muscles. Therefore most of
the remarkable intellects of this day and most of the
modern inventors with their astounding accomplishments
can not be considered to be products of normal evolution.
They are more like hothouse products of an abnormal
civilization. They are the outcome of a forced and artificial
growth of lopsided qualities, carried on through many
generations. They are in the human kingdom what
exceptionally trained animals are in the sub-human. They
are no samples of evolutionary growth toward the
superhuman.
Civilization as it is distinctly constitutes a hindrance to
spiritual unfoldment. In its concentration on materialistic
and mental achievements it neglects and suppresses the
inner development of man. It antagonizes the higher
expression of the life force which evolution seeks to bring
about.
 It is for this reason that our present civilization is on
its way to follow the fate of most preceding civilizations.
They reached a high state of mental development and of
material well-being. Then, when their materialism
together with its attendant lack of morality nullified their
value in the evolutionary scheme by antagonizing the
unfoldment of the spiritual element, they were inexorably
destroyed.
Total destruction of our own civilization can be
prevented only if cognizance is taken of the spiritual
demands of evolution.
Evolution is natures process of allowing the latent
qualities of the life force to come gradually into perfect
manifestation. For this purpose she constructs ever more
suitable, more responsive, more delicate living
instruments through which to express always more of her
own innermost being, more of that unfathomable element
which we call spirit.
In the simplest physical forms of the mineral kingdom
nature can only manifest what seems to us unconscious
existence. In the plants — which rise above the minerals,
out of and above the ground — the life force stirs and
shows a consciousness of sentient living. In the animals —
which might be called uprooted plants, grown-g by
motion and by emotion above the animal kingdom — life
expresses itself in instinctive consciousness. In present
humanity — grown mentally above the animals life's
energy displays itself in a conscious realization of self-
consciousness.
Could this rudimental humanity as it now is be the
climax of the evolutionary scheme? Of course not. Man as
we know him is by no means the highest creature that will
be evolved. There is not the slightest reason for supposing
that the powers, which we human beings happen to
possess are the highest of which this planet is
capable. Progress is the law of life, man is not Man as yet.
The process of progress must continue until nature can
perfectly reveal its highest powers in a perfected
instrument. A superhumanity must be developed which
realizes an untrammeled expression of spiritual
consciousness.

At the primitive human stage there came a change in

the evolutionary method.
Pre-human progress was involuntary. But human
progress can be willed — nay, it must be willed. So far
growth had been regular and automatic, unopposed. It
might have continued thus if man (that is: the human
species) had not used self-consciousness to foster self-
indulgence and sensuality. He thereby set up an
impediment which he himself must again undo by self-
chosen, willing effort. Instead of continuing mechanically
from without, growth has become an accomplishment that
must be aided from within. Further evolution, will result
solely from conscious efforts towards growth. It can be
achieved only through persistent self-exertion.
Henceforth man, not striving toward evolution, not
helping it, will not evolve. And the individual who is not
evolving, goes down, degenerates, This is the general
law.The choice is mans. Will he successfully progress
toward the succeeding stage of fully spiritualized
humanity, and finally to that of divinized superhumanity,
then he must with self-determination overcome the
obstacles to growth. —Divinity is in us; animality hampers
and constricts it, stunting our growth. Especially sexual
activity weakens man, in his most essential, his spiritual
expression. If the race is to progress, it must somehow
become - less sexual; for even the potentiality of a higher
spiritual life, is endangered by fleshly lust.
Human evolution cannot proceed unless man sets
himself to the task of overcoming the passions which
obstruct his spiritual unfoldment. He who shall attain to
perfection must be one who, has courage to be absolutely
chaste.
 THE DEADLOCK IN HUMAN
EVOLUTION

The strength of the sexual appetite, is unquestionably the

great obstacle to the improvement of the race.

HUMAN EVOLUTION has been at a standstill for many

thousands of years. As far as we can look back into history
and compare ourselves with the human elements of
ancient civilizations, no evolutionary progress is
noticeable. Our bodies have, if anything, deteriorated.
Human qualities have not improved. Character, emotions,
and motives for action have remained very much the
same. Our materials for knowledge have increased, but
not our intellectual capacity. The intellectual power of our
brainiest contemporaries does not surpass that of a
Homer or a Hermes, or of purported Atlantean illuminati.
Of any thing beyond intellect there still occurs only
sporadically no more than an almost negligible indication.
Since we can trace no noticeable advance in human
evolution within a measurable period, it may well be
presumed that at some time in the past a seemingly
insurmountable obstacle has been erected which has
checked our evolution. Some powerful factor must have
prevented the life force from rising to new and higher
outlets.
Even a cursory survey of the progress of the expression
of life energy in pre-human as well as in human vehicles
will help to discover the nature and the cause of the
obstruction in the path of our evolution.
A fundamental difference between various stages of
evolutionary growth lies in the ways in which the life force
is being utilized. In all organisms, from the simplest to the
most complicated, the action of the life force is sustained
by nutrition (which in a wider sense includes respiration).
All functions other than nutrition, instead of sustaining,
consume some of the available life energy.
In the smallest and simplest creatures, such as
unicellular bacteria, life's energy is utilized in but a single
way: in fast multiplication. A bacterium is all germ-plasm,
all reproductive material. Under favorable conditions
hundreds of billions of specimens can descend from a
single one in a twenty-four hour period.
Out of the unicellular beings nature has gradually
evolved the multicellular and complex creatures in which
groups of cells are differentiated for special purposes. In
the jellyfish, for instance, parts of the body’s surface have
protruded and grown into grasping and feeling
extensions. Other cells of the skin have become receptive
to impressions of light, preparing what later becomes an
eye. And so with other rudimental organs of the senses.
Within the body an incipient muscular and • a still diffuse
nervous system have begun to take shape. Body-growth,
muscular exertion, and the nascent faculty of perception
of the external world require a goodly share of the life
energy which in the lowest forms was monopolized by
reproduction. At the stage of the jellyfish reproduction is
still profuse, though not comparable with that of bacteria.
Fast multiplication remains necessary wherever
destructive factors cause a high rate of accidental deaths;
but as a rule this need diminishes as evolution of the form
proceeds, and new and higher faculties are being
developed.
At the more elaborately organized stage of the reptiles
the most striking functional change that by then stands
out as having been accomplished is the centralization of
the nervous system. The spinal cord has been definitely
established; and at the head-end of the cord the
cerebellum is ready to register impressions. Its
functioning and that of the entire improved nervous
system required an additional amount of nervous energy.
The new demand for this specialized form of the life force
— which again had to be taken from what at earlier stages
would have remained available for the reproductive
system necessarily caused reproduction to be slowed
down.
Ascending the scale of being to the mammals, we find
the cerebrum or fore-brain developed to a certain extent.
As above stated, the reptiles had the cerebellum or hind-
brain; but its activities are considered as not entering
consciousness. Provided with a be it only slightly active
cerebrum, the mammals become conscious of sense-
impressions, and therewith capable of more strongly
sensed emotional responses to impressions from the
outside. Again, with the introduction of these newer
functions life energy is transferred from the reproductive
organs to the brain; and reproduction is considerably
diminished.
Between the evolutionary stage of the highest
developed animal and that of man there is a gap so far as
scientific knowledge about it is concerned — an
unfathomable dark cleft. It looks as though evolution at
this point, quite against its customary gradual procedure,
had taken a sudden and bold leap. Before following it in
that hypothetical jump across the canyon of missing links
a critical look back over the covered ground may well be
taken.
The point that stands out prominently is that originally
the entire flow of life's energy was directed toward
reproduction. Inherently, from that time on, the
reproductive principle has held a first claim on the life
force. Every new function of the evolving organisms could
be introduced only at the cost of reduced reproduction.
The energy needed for each new evolutionary acquisition
had to be diverted from the earlier established
reproductive tendency, and to be transformed into other
modes of expression. The life force had to be used more
and more for inward instead of for outward purposes.
All the way up through the animal kingdom this
process was made easy by the absolute power of instinct,
which unfailingly guides all animals in their every activity
in harmony with the plan of evolution. The animal is
bound to follow that guidance because it has no faculty,
no power of its own, with which to oppose natures will
and purpose.
Thus it was an easy matter for the evolving animal to
yield more and more of its reproductive energy and
activity to the needs of higher and higher evolutionary
attainments.

Now: the human stage

Mind, reason, intellect, conscious self-consciousness

are the evolutionary characteristics of the human species.
Thanks to a far better developed brain than possessed by
any group in the animal kingdom, these new factors can
function in man.
The additional brain development has been made
possible by nature by instituting a long period of
childhood, followed by years of adolescence before
maturity is fully reached. To make the most of the
evolutionary advantages and possibilities it is evident that
in the first place youth, up to full maturity, should
conserve all of life's energy for the development of body
and of brain.
But after maturity has been reached the law of
evolution does not cease to require more and more
transmuted energy at every forward step. For the adult as
truly as for youth, for the married as truly as for the
unmarried, further progress in evolution can only be
attained at the cost of diminished sexual activity. In some
of the higher animal species this had already been
reduced to as little as a single act in the season of rut,
which in many cases occurs only once a year. For human
beings, then, a still further reduction — a limitation to the
few occasions when propagation is consciously willed is
requisite if evolution is to proceed.
In the human body nature continues to be lavish with
the production of seed as a storage battery of life force.
But more insistently than ever the evolutionary law
demands that — except for limited generative use — the
force be kept within the body for regenerative purposes.
For mankind this has been always a most perplexing
problem. Man is the first product of evolution to be
capable of controlling evolutionary destiny. Endowed as
he is with reasoning powers, he must independently
decide upon his own behavior, without the compelling
guidance by instinct. Supplied with mind, he is expected
to cooperate consciously with nature in her further
evolutionary program.
Unfortunately humanity has arrantly failed to make a
serious effort to promote its own further progress. Instead
of using the power of the mind to understand the
responsibilities which freedom from blind obedience to
instinct
entails, mankind has refused to listen whenever it was
reminded of the requirements of the evolutionary law. It
was so much easier to lend an ear to the promptings of
desire, which was an unknown element up to the human
stage. It must have been very soon after the acquisition of
mental self-consciousness and his becoming aware of
stirrings of primitive impulses, that man began to use the
mind to stimulate the desires of the body. In this way he
has indulged the almost negligible sexual impulse which
he inherited from the animal kingdom, until it has
become a desire so strong that he has difficulty to control
it.
Overstimulated by this unnaturally strong desire of his
own making, man has looked for arbitrary ways in which
to gratify it. Although reducing actual reproduction, he
has discovered ways of Underproductive sexual action.
But every such act, whatever form it takes, is a misuse of
sex and uses up some of the life force that should be
utilized for the support and the development of higher
faculties. The record of our race progress clearly shows
how our upward movement has been checked, by that
misuse.
At the time when mankind became accustomed and
addicted to sexual acts without reproductive purpose, at
that very time it put a deadlock into the course of its
evolution. Not until this deadlock is removed can
humanity, individually and jointly, stride on toward the
attainment of the greater faculties and powers which
evolution has in store for man.

THE IDEAL
The ideal man is, non-attached to his bodily sensations and
lusts.

AMONGST THOSE who give this subject serious thought

practically every one today admits that our sexual life is
far from perfect. But instead of attempting to perfect it by
lifting it to the level of an ideal, the majority tries to lower
that life to a cunningly intensified sensual gratification.
The general tendency is to idolize its imperfections, even
to worship at the shrines of its deformed images. And the
only effort to counteract this degrading idolatry consists
in an occasional ineffective mumbling by would-be
moralists about so-called moderation.
The genuine doctrine of moderation deals with the
elements contributing to evolutionary growth. It teaches
avoidance of lopsided development. It warns against
extremes in physical training, in rigidity of asceticism, in
receptive sensitiveness, in compassionate emotions, in
intellectuality, in philosophical abstraction, in spiritual
meditation — all of which are necessary factors that must
be all practiced, but that must be kept in balance with
each other if harmonious evolution is to be attained. The
world however has avidly grasped and misconstrued the
doctrine of moderation in evolutionary elements, and
applied it to its own anti-evolutionary tendencies to self-
gratification. The ideal doctrine has been degraded into an
excuse for personal habits and weaknesses, every
individual proclaiming that his particular standard of
pandering to these can serve as a model of moderation.
Not moderation, but elimination is the ideal in regard
to evolution-retarding habits. In a sanitarium for dope-
addicts it may be advisable to allow patients temporarily a
restricted — but at the same time gradually diminishing —
use of narcotics. Similarly it may be advisable to condone
that sex-addicts (that is to say: all those who have
habituated themselves to sexual acts) do not suddenly
break their habit, provided they will gradually overcome
it. But no sane person can opine that a continuous use of
drugs should be prescribed for the dope-addicted patients
— not even in a so-called moderate degree. Still less that it
should also be recommended for those who are free from
the addiction. As little reasonable is it to claim that quasi
moderate sexual activity must continually be indulged in
by those who are addicted to such acts, and that also it
should be recommended for all who are not so addicted.
Once realizing that the sexual life of humanity is far
from faultless, it becomes imperative to look impersonally
and unbiased for a way out of its unsound condition.
Evidently two pathways lie ahead: one leading up out
of entanglement, the other down and deeper into it. Man
must either climb toward the radiant, though seemingly
lonesome summit, or slide into the tempting shadows of
the crowded lower path. The one path is the way of self-
control, of mastery over sex, leading to purity and
progress; the other is the road of self-indulgence, of
enslavery to sex, of passion and resultant retrogression.
One must either recognize that sexual intercourse is
not essential to individual well-being, and encourage
continence; or acknowledge the regular necessity of such
intercourse for all who are physically mature, and frankly
sanction licentiousness. Sexual acts must either be limited
to propagation, or perversion must be condoned. There
must be either a sane and sanitary living, or there will be a
wider spreading of venereal disease. If there is no
purification, there is bound to be purification.
On the one path there is ethical refinement,
clarification of the mind, and general regeneration; on the
other, moral decay, mental retardation and all around
degeneration. Either a transmutation of the sex force will
bring spiritual expansion; or continued transgression of
natural law will dull the already acquired, and limit all
chance of developing higher faculties.
Man must either consciously help evolution and make
every effort to ascend to the superhuman state; or he will
stubbornly counteract and undo the work of evolution,
and thereby descend below the grade of the sub-human
state.
Every human being has the choice between those two
paths. Every individual, must belong either to the side
which is in favor of purity, or to the fraction which all
practices and advocates sensuality.
Which of the two will lead to a more desirable, more
worthy, more ideal humanity? Which must we choose and
follow?, A voice from within in each case definitely and
clearly gives the answer; and all that is left for moral
philosophy to do is to give it the form of a universal
rational Such a principle is contained in the following
formula:
FOR ADVANCED EVOLUTIONARY GROWTH PASSION
MUST BE CONQUERED AND THE GENERATIVE
ORGANS BE USED FOR GENERATION ONLY. In other
words: all the sex force not actually used for the
perpetuation of the species must by transmutation be
made available for higher evolutionary attainment.
The sexual life to which the application of this formula
leads is a spiritualized and impersonal one — a life in
which the personality’s actions are ruled by spiritual
motives, and in which the selfish longings of the body, of
the senses or of the mind cannot be allowed to play any
part.
As an ideal this applies to all. Albeit not within
immediate reach of every individual, as a final destination
it is the same for all. It is an ideal that is set to us as a task:
we must strive toward it, even if its realization is beyond
our power. For a majority it may be so far away that it
seems unattainable indeed. But a close approach to its
attainment is possible for quite a number. In individual
cases it has been successfully approached, always
concurring with commensurate spiritual growth.
Amongst those who have fully realized this ideal in the
past are some who have left imperishable impressions of
spiritual greatness on human history. They, the wisest
teachers that ever trod the earth, stand out as exemplars
of what mankind can be and of what it is destined to be
when it grows spiritually mature. In the process of that
growth all humanity must gradually conquer passion,
must gradually diminish the abuse of sex.
Eventually the ideal of purity must be seen and
recognized and ultimately reached by all, if the race is to
rise from its wearisome condition of the human-animal to
the felicitous spiritual-human state. Every individual must
face the basic facts. Understanding these, one must
choose the ideal as a goal; and the will must consciously
be applied to approximate that goal as rapidly as possible.
A beginning must be made by every one some time. To
deny this is to deny oneself the chance for evolutionary
progression.
 Once ones aspirations are concentrated upon the ideal,
its distant glimmering becomes more and more distinct
and more irresistibly attractive. Approaching it from
wherever one may stand, every conscious step in its
direction edifies, until consummate attainment well-nigh
deifies.
All this may seem to many too idealistic. But ideals of
today are realities of the future . Undeniably, the ideal is
remote, but he who will not attain it will fare well for
having striven after it.

CONSIDERATIONS

NOT BEING a text-book, this work does not attempt to be

either complete or systematic. It is more in the nature of a
test-book: one in which the genuineness of the proffered ideal
concerning the importance of conservation of reproductive
energy is being tested on the touchstone of widely diversified
subjects. Science and metaphysics, sociology and ethics, and
philosophical and religious systems of all times are lightly
touched upon, at a single point, for the purpose of
substantiating the ideal and of proving its intrinsic value. In
almost every direction evidence can be found in
corroboration of the ideal of purity.
A perusal of the following four-score chapters will reveal
how widespread and how well supported is the view that the
evolutionary development of body, of intellect, of every
cultural attainment, of spirituality and of hidden powers
largely depends upon the conservation and transformation of
sexual energy.
Where each chapter deals with a single subject, each
presents but a single argument or suggests only a single
consideration. Therefore one chapter by itself may or may not
prove strikingly convincing. But each in some way serves to
strengthen all the others; each chapter contains a
contribution to the central theme of the book.
All statements made or quoted can not be equally strong,
and they are not expected to be always generally accepted.
More likely than not even the most conclusive remarks would
be rejected anyhow by the multitude which clings to its
addiction to sensuous gratification. Evidently least of all can I
hope for approbation from those who are under the power of
passion. For he that lives at the dictates of passion will not
hear nor understand the reasoning of one who tries to
dissuade him. Passion seems not to be amenable to reason. It
is still true that this lower principle in man would not listen to
reason and, would never naturally care for any arguments.
After all each man can only prize that which to a certain
extent is analogous to him, and for which he has at least a
slight inclination. Therefore the thoughts expressed in these
pages are intended mainly for those who have become already
somewhat receptive to spiritual principles. Even to those
perhaps not all the arguments presented in favor of the ideal
will appeal. But if by logic or by intuitive reaction they find
that the cumulative evidence of be it only half a dozen
chapters seems convincing, then that should suffice to plant
the seed of the ideal in their consciousness.
Nearly every one who is willing to face the evidence frankly
and squarely will have to acknowledge that the ideal is based
on a deep, solid stratum of universal truth. And once this
recognition is rooted, a little regular attention will make it
grow and bloom and bear the refreshing and rejuvenating
fruit which brings a taste of spiritual realization.

SPIRIT VERSUS MATTER

IN THEIR final essence spirit and matter are only
opposite poles of the same universal substance. As the
primary expression of natures law of polarity, without
which the universe could not exist, they are states of one
unity, divided only in our conception of the modes of its
manifestation.
On this point the deepest philosophies, the highest
occult teachings, the broadest religious viewpoints and
the farthest reaching scientific searchings seem to lead to
very similar conclusions. They have come to look upon
spirit and matter as being basically one single element
which from one form of expression can be transmuted
into another by changing its rate of vibration. Regarded
concretely, spiritual and material being are two kinds of
energy which can be transformed into each other, just as
mechanical motion can be transformed into heat and vice
versa.
If looked upon in the same analytical way, steam and
ice are basically one and the same thing; but in every-day
talk and for practical purposes they remain definitely
distinguishable and as good as opposites. Their relative
opposition and yet basic unity may be indicated by calling
ice the lowest form of that of which steam is a higher
manifestation. And so may matter be called the lowest
form of that of which spirit is the highest expression.
Only the exceptional mind can occasionally
contemplate and still more rarely entirely grasp the
ultimate reality of oneness. For a perfect understanding of
the state of unity we first must escape from matter, which
is but an inferior form of spirit; that is to say, we must
escape from the crystallizing power that matter holds over
us. For the average human intellect the standpoint of
duality is the more logical, the only comprehensible.
Therefore spirit and matter are for the present purposes
dealt with as antithetical.
Justification for considering matter low and spirit high
can be found mainly in a comparison of their rates of
vibration: that of matter and its qualities is low and slow,
while that of spirit and its attributes is high and fast
beyond measure, beyond imagination.
 Wherever two of different rates of speed are linked
together, as spirit and matter inextricably are, there is
conflict, push and struggle, strife for supremacy. Thus
spirit and matter are in constant conflict with each other;
spirit always pushes onward and matter is holding back.
But about the final outcome of their contest there cannot
be a doubt: the quicker always ultimately wins, in the
evolutionary arena as in the wrestling-ring.
In the end matter—which expresses the static power of
solidification, of separateness, of selfishness and of
sensuousness—is fated to be vanquished by spirit, whose
dynamic power is that of expansion, of unification, of self-
effacement and of sublime purity.
In that victory of spirit over matter, matter is not
destroyed but is made, an instrument of the activity of
spirit. Matter will then no longer oppose, but support
spirit; it will become spiritualized itself, and will manifest
only that which is in accord with spirit, namely: absolute
purity in every expression of life.
Such purity is necessary if real spirituality is to be
attained.

EMBODIED SPIRIT
IN HUMANOLOGY the clashing cosmic elements of spirit
and matter are represented by the human spirit, which is
the, emanation from the divine, and the body with its
various desires and passions, which is of the nature of
matter. And as cosmically matter is lower than spirit by
reason of its lower rate of vibration, so the physical
human body is lower than the indwelling spirit.
Everything that increases the power of matter over
man makes the body denser, lower in vibration and less fit
to serve as an instrument for spirit. Even the bodys finest
organs high in the skull become thereby less accessible to
spirit.
 The attraction of matter is most powerful in the organs
in the lower part of the trunk. Hence there are good
reasons for designating the sexual tendency as belonging
to mans lower nature. It is this lower nature with its
animal qualities that must be conquered by the spirit
within man in order that he may become a truly human
being. The binding of the lower is necessary in order that
the higher may act.
To give a clear definition of the spirit in man seems,
alas, impossible. Mere words cannot correctly define it
because since it is spirit, it can be comprehended only
spiritually. As long as man is controlled by carnality, there
is nothing in him that can touch or sense spirit, and
therefore he cannot be conscious of it. Very few possess
the needed faculty of spiritual comprehension. And few
are they who are willing to take up the rigid training
necessary for the acquisition of that faculty — probably
just because for this purpose the lower faculties, require
to be strictly governed by the higher.
Those wise ones who had acquired the faculty of
spiritual comprehension have stated in different ways but
always with absolute certainty that essentially we are
spirit • that we are not a body which may or may not have
a soul but that we are a soul (or individualized spirit)
incidentally using a body; that the body is but an
instrument existing for the use and sake of the soul, and
not for itself. But to prove this to ourselves we have to
discover the spirit in us by stripping off all that is
extraneous to it, A strictly ethical discipline is insisted on,
an absolute inward purity demanding self-mastery and
self-renunciation, in the first place a renunciation of
everything that increases the power of matter over spirit.
If we wish to become spiritually developed we must,
become rid of our sensuality and passions.
 As expressed in the language of a somewhat orthodox
moral philosophy, which none the less is basically true: if
the spirit, is to increase in power, the flesh must be
subdued. As long as the satisfaction of the appetites and
lusts of the flesh is included in mans ideals and aims, he
never can rise above the plane of animalism. Flesh here
refers to mans material nature which violates, the spirit, is
opposed to and exclusive of it. And since the
predominance of flesh over spirit expresses itself most
strongly, in the carnal union , the first step towards giving
supremacy to spirit is to master the sexual urge.
It is the grossness of all the matter in which material
man consists, which holds the soul in continual
imperfection. Our body, fills us with desires and passions
and vain imaginings, and a host of frivolities. But once
having got rid of the foolishness of the body, we shall be
pure, and know the clear light of truth. Who then would
not, strive to wean himself by degrees from the
domination and insolence of this flesh ?
However, to subdue the flesh does not mean that the
body should be despised or stunted or neglected. The true
attitude toward the body will be one neither of contempt
nor of weak pandering to its impulses. The whole trend of
evolution shows a tender care on natures part in the
building of better, finer, higher organized bodies, through
which spirit can ever more fully express itself. We can
help evolution, not by neglecting the body but by
disciplining and purifying it, by bringing its vibrations up
to a higher standard, by refining and subliming it, and so
heightening its powers as to make it sensitive and
responsive to all the manifestations of the spirit. The body
is not to be put off; it is to be, made spiritual. And the
living flesh itself becomes spiritualized in proportion to
the inner growth of its bearer. Only by resolutely
improving and perfecting it as an instrument for spirit can
we, while living in a physical body, hope to know and
consciously express the priceless faculties of spirit.
 THE SEX PRINCIPLE

IT HAS been commonly imagined that sex is a primal fact

rooted in the very constitution of life, if not indeed of the
universe, But there is nothing of that fundamental
character about the device of sexual reproduction.
Strictly, sex is only that which physically distinguishes
female from male. It is but one of the manifold
manifestations of natures unfathomable law of polarity.
So also is electricity in its positive and negative poles; so is
music in its polar opposites of major and minor; so are the
contrasts of spirit and matter, of day and night, of
repulsion and attraction. Innumerable are the expressions
of polarity, of which sex is but one instance.
To reverse this statement and to say that all polarity is
educible to sex is the specious reasoning of a race
mentality so pervaded with thoughts of sex that it seeks to
sexualize everything. Thus the idea of sex often has been
connected with the most abstract concepts, including
deity. Unfortunately some of the deepest metaphysical
dissertations have used the words male and female in
reference to positive and negative forces in nature and to
other polar opposites far above the physical plane. This
may have been done in order to make the difficult abstract
ideas more readily understood by the average mind; but
with it all it has contributed to the widespread
misunderstanding that sex implies more than a physical
differentiation. But apart from that material distinction
nature knows no more of a male and a female principle
than of a vertebrate and invertebrate principle.
Whatever seemingly important place one may be
inclined to assign to sex in individual physical existence,
from a higher standpoint one can see in it no more than a
mere temporary expression on the physical plane of the
pairs of opposites, merely an adventitious, adaptation.
Spiritually considered we are not men or women; we are
spirit, using — and using only temporarily — a male or a
female body. It cannot be too emphatically reiterated that
the sex function exists only on the physical plane, and that
it is only in the body that sex exists. There is no sex in
mind. Also souls have no sex. Still less can there be any
question of sex in the spirit. From which it follows that as
one grows in spirituality sex loses its importance.
Abundant as may be the neo-psychological and the
erotically romantic and poetical attempts to put sex and
its function on a hallowed pedestal, only a sense-dimmed
vision can lead to the belief that this is where it rightfully
belongs. Sex being only a characteristic of the physical
body, every sexual gratification sustains the body in its
resistance against a fuller manifestation of spirit.
Before considering sex to be mans crowning glory and
his most godlike possession, one may well take into
account that every pig and every insect shares in the
imaginary glory of that same possession which does not in
any way crown man as different from the lowest animal.
The reproductive process, is still an essentially animal
function. True spirituality demands its utter extirpation.
Mans truly godlike possession lies in the possibility of
spiritual development. Not in sex. On the contrary, the
absolutely spiritual man is, entirely disconnected from
sex.
( Sexual reproduction has often been regarded as an
expression of mans creative power. But reproduction is
not, creation. Even the purest sexual act, even on those
rare occasions when it is performed with propagative
intention, is not creative. The males part in the act is at
best no more creative than the action of a husbandman
who sows, depending entirely upon nature to produce a
harvest. The seed is deposited in the womb, and another
cause takes it, operates it, and moulds a child.
 Moreover, the comparison of the males role with that
of a sower is still too flattering; and to say that the woman
in her conception and generation is but the imitation of
the earth, is not giving her sufficient recognition for hers.
For she represents not only the earth, but the earth with
the seed, the ovum, already in it. The male, far from
exerting any creative power, is required to furnish only a
fecundating element, which perchance it may become
possible to provide without him. The spermatozoon can
be replaced by a chemical or physiological agent. Only the
female element is essential.
No, not in sex lies mans creative power. What is
usually spoken of as procreation is not in any way a
manifestation of creative faculties of the procreators. No
human being knows how to create the seed, nor how to
make it grow into a living being. Procreation is a physical
expression belonging to the animal part of man —
whereas creation belongs to a higher, as yet practically
un-manifested part in him.
The only true creative function is that of, the faculty of
formative thought. Creative power is that which
consciously makes the subjective objective, by exercise of
intensely concentrated thought. It goes far beyond what
is so often considered to be the creative power of artists,
who even at their best are but extremely skillful artisans
giving more or less perfect physical form to what they
observe in visible objects, or to what in moments of
inspiration may have been impressed on them. The real
power of creation rests in the mind. And it can manifest
only after the mind has been freed from any connection
with sex, and has become indissolubly linked with spirit.

PURPOSE OF SEX
NATURE — OR whatever one may wish to call that force
which manifests in the evolution of life and form — needs
in her evolutionary work an almost endless series of
generations in order to lead up to the final, perfect form.
Through innumerable generations of minerals, of plants,
of animals, of men, she is leading up to supermen and on
beyond.
In all her kingdoms nature has instituted methods of
perpetuating the species for the purpose that the
perfection which one generation has not reached may be
approached by the next. Of every method of reproduction
self-evidently reproduction is the natural aim. Thus also
in creating the division of the sexes, nature has only one
aim — the continuation of life. The physical use of
physical organs of reproduction is by nature intended for
physical propagation, and for that purpose only. Certainly
those powers and instruments and appetites which are
subservient to copulation were imparted to men not for
the sake of voluptuousness but for the perpetuation of the
human race.
Inasmuch as the object of the sexual function is the
preservation of the species, the act of copulation should be
performed only at such times and under such
circumstances as subserve that object. Sexual action that
is not propagative cannot be considered to be in harmony
with natures purposes. Every attempt to justify
Underproductive sexual action can only be the result of a
wish to whitewash the addiction of humanity to sexual
abuse.
It is irrational to ascribe to nature the intention that
sex should be used for sense-gratification, where that
misuse is but an invention of the human mind. As well
might be deduced from the existence of poppies and of all
such plants from which man has seen fit to extract
narcotics and intoxicating stimulants, that it is natures
intention to people the earth with dope-addicts and
drunks.
 Always to serve in the most effective way her
fundamental plan — that is: to forward evolution —
nature has evolved different propagative methods for
successive evolutionary forms; from fission she has
changed to budding; from this apparently to a
hermaphroditic system; out of which she has developed
the method which requires cooperation of two separated
sexes. Man is born in the present way only as the
consequence, of the law of natural evolution.
Each change was introduced when evolution could be
promoted by a new method of reproduction. The still
unanswered question is: why was unisexuality developed
in preference to some other propagative system, and how
was this particular method expected to aid evolution
better than any other.
While the physical aspect of sex is intended exclusively
for propagation, a secondary purpose entirely apart from
the physical must have been part of natures plan when
instituting the sexual method of reproduction — a purpose
that would aim to advance human evolution in higher
realms simultaneously with that in the physical.
Emotional and mental and spiritual evolution must
proceed on parallel lines with that of the physical forms;
and the evolving form enhances the possibility of higher
emotional, higher mental and spiritual expression. All of
these are at first much more stimulated by the
interdependence of the two sexes than by the sell-
centered self-sufficiency of the preceding undifferentiated
and asexual systems of reproduction.
But the attainment of the secondary purpose does not
depend on physical sex expression. It manifests in the
psychological or super-physical relation of the sexes. The
differentiation of the sexes has left each individual intact
as a soul. Only, where in the one sex a positive principle
has been emphasized while a negative was sub-ego.
 INSTINCT

LOOKING BACK over the path of evolution we see the

mineral kingdom still &Sleep in natures womb, the earth;
the vegetable kingdom still connected with its mother,
directly fed through roots; then the helpless animal
kingdom as natures toddling little child over which she
closely watches, holding it tightly by the hand. By this
close, protecting contact natures own intelligence
unerringly guides the animal, in which it manifests as
instinct.
Instinct is given to the animals since they have no
understanding. In everything they automatically follow
their instinct, and in doing so they act as nobly, as their
position in nature permits. The sexual body-urge in itself
is not instinct; instinct is the power which in the animals
controls that urge, just as it controls their selection of the
right food and their building of a nest, a hive, a web.
Instinct unfailingly directs and restricts their sexuality
which it allows to come into expression only in the season
of rut, purely for the perpetuation of the species. This is
the rule, unless through association with mankind the
animal has become abnormal in this respect, in which
case the power of instinct is interfered with.
From her older child, from humanity, nature has
withdrawn her guiding hand. Instead of instinct she has
implanted in man mind, which is an individualized part of
her own intelligence, so that in him reason has completely
supplanted instinct in the government of conduct. There
exists no instance in normal man of a determinate pure
instinct. Not even in the savage. Only the cells and cell-
groups within the body are still directed by instinct to
perform such processes as digestion and the restoration of
damaged tissue. But all acts of the individual have come
entirely under the control of human volition.
 For the direction of human conduct by man himself
nature has developed in him a brain through which the
mind can find expression. Instinctive life does not need
the brain. Hence below the human stage instinct could be
manifest already before the brain began to be formed; and
as long as the brain was not sufficiently developed to serve
as an instrument for the mind, instinct remained the
regulator of conduct. But since individual mind has
become active, instinct has become superfluous.
Therefore, anatomically, as the brain developed, the
centers for the older instinctive activities were covered
over. Physiologists of high repute agree that with the
growth of the brain the place of instinct, was taken by
intelligent educability, and soon intellectual powers, had
the effect of superseding those of instinct.
Surely then, mans overstrong sexual urge cannot be
excused by ascribing it to instinct — to an influence from
which he has been cut off in the dim past. No instinct is
either urging or restraining him. The cause lies entirely in
himself, in his abuse of mind.
Part of minds mission was to take over natures task of
judicious direction and restriction of the sexual urge. But
instead of using his reasoning power for this purpose man
— becoming conscious of self-seeking, sense-serving, sex-
stirring possibilities — applied his mentality to the
distortion of the sexual life. In the exercise of reason
presumably rational, intelligent man descends below the
level of the beasts, because he puts his intellect at the
service of bestiality. He calls it reason, but pollutes its use
by being beastlier than any brutes.
It is believed that the pairing of our earliest human or
half-human ancestors, was restricted to a certain season
of the year, and that abstinence was the rule at other
times. But, the sexual impulse became perverted through
lust. In order to multiply the moments of [body-] pleasure
man acquired the faculty of repeating genetic acts during
any season. This has been detrimental in several ways. For
one thing it was, at the cost of the length of his life. The
most serious effect has been that he is manifesting a
degenerative tendency instead of taking an upward step
on the evolutionary scale. By his chronic animalism man
sinks lower than an animal because he lives in a state of
disorder which does not exist among animals.
Where animals are only sexual, man has become
sensual by degrading the reproductive sexual urge into a
desire for Underproductive sensual satisfaction.
Sensuality is man-made. By overexciting the reproductive
faculty for millions of years man has only himself to blame
for the impelling power of the sexual impulse. And only he
himself can reduce that power and bring it back within the
boundaries of its legitimate domain: that of the
perpetuation of the race.

DESIRE
IN the widest meaning the word desire may be used to
express a longing for the attainment of any form of
satisfaction, be it physical, emotional, intellectual or
spiritual — a longing for anything that can be expected to
provide passing pleasure or lasting joy. But in practical
application the use of the word more often than not has
been limited to signify a passional emotion for sense-
gratification — and here it will be so used.
Even in this restricted meaning desire does not exist
below the human stage. Animals are equipped with
appetites. In their natural state they are guided by natures
intelligence — that is, by instinct — to satisfy those
appetites for preservation of self and of species. They
serve natures need in a natural attraction to food or mate
without being driven by desire.
Only in man, endowed with mind and with self-
consciousness, desire comes into being; for desire is
appetite with consciousness thereof. Instead of being
wisely led by instinct man is misled by unwise use of mind
and driven by desire. At the evolutionary stage of average
present humanity mind is used in separative, selfish ways
and is largely confined to matter; and thus desire,
produced by matter-bound and matter-blinded mind,
seeks separative, selfish and material satisfaction. And
man not only, satisfies the desires of the moment, but
refines upon them and stimulates them by a continual
misapplication of memory and anticipation, these two
great powers of the mind.
Hence it is that desire is insatiable and is always in
wane, and that merely natural impulses, make more and
more demands the more concessions one makes to them.
With it all, no attained object of desire can give lasting
satisfaction; it can produce merely a fleeting gratification
which only feeds and fosters the desire and makes it grope
for forms of self-indulgence which grow ever more
noxious.
In most cases the desire lasts long; the demands are
infinite; the satisfaction is short. And besides, the satisfied
passion leads oftener to unhappiness than to happiness;
so that so long as we are given up to the throng of desires
we can never have lasting happiness nor peace. Therefore,
to do what the ultra-modernists seem to propound,
namely to make desire a final authority, is to invite chaos
in the inner life; whereas to diminish our desires is the
same as to augment our powers.
Undoubtedly the lower forms of desire have their due
place in the scheme of evolution. As long as humanity was
in a young evolutionary stage such desire was as useful as
a teething ring is for a baby in the teething stage. But the
babe does not need the ring after the teeth cut through —
although it may want to keep it as a toy. So does humanity
not need the element of desire after the breaking through
of a higher consciousness, although it may want to cling to
its every desire as to a pleasure-producing toy.
 At the present time desire still may be the
indispensable motive power for those backward ones who
will not move or work without anticipating sense-satiety
as a reward. But that is not to say that it is still a necessary
element for all, or that it must remain for ever with those
who are being helped by it now.
Sooner or later one begins to see that desire for
transitory things does not and can not bring any
permanent satisfaction; and also that so long as our
desires are in conflict with the universal law we suffer
pain; that not only all desire is accompanied by pain, but
that desire itself is pain, and that there is no pain like
passion, no deceit like sense.
Then, turning away from the tyranny of selfish sense-
desires, one finds an inner spiritual longing for more
lasting things, an unselfish aspiration for conscious
cooperation with natures plans and laws which supplies
an even more effective motive power for action than
desire. An intuitive knowledge of the reality of a higher
form of human existence, and a longing to attain it,
become manifest as ones unselfish efforts increase.
This longing lies deep down within each one, not like
desire fed by misdirected mind but wed to unerring
wisdom. It is an essential part of us; yet is it not to many
actually known because our animal desires, have hidden
from us our true life. This is the real misery of man, that
he is self-obscured, lost in the midst of his own desires.
Hence the idea that man ought to liberate himself from
the bondage of earthly desires is the conclusion of a
contemplative mind reflecting upon the short duration
and emptiness of all bodily pleasures. To expel all
eagerness of temporary desire, this is emancipation, and
this is the free mans worship.
It is but a repetition of the conviction of the greatest
thinkers and of the mystics and the spiritual leaders of all
ages that for every person who wishes to advance in
evolution and to attain real happiness there comes a time
when desires must starve, the animal passions must die.
Nothing hinders us so much in the development and
exercise of our inner powers as, our external desires.
Those powers, are even by the slightest application of
desire disturbed and hindered. Therefore all desire must
eventually perish. But it need not perish by the painful
process of being killed by force. By transmutation the
lower desires will automatically shrink, dissolve and
vanish. Suffering will then yield its place to constant
exaltation; for freedom from desire is like the choicest
extract from the choicest treasure. Divine influences will
come to him who liberates his soul of all carnal desires.

THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

WHAT A restless, pleasure-craving, pleasure-grasping

crowd humanity has become! The chief good is supposed
by the multitude to be pleasure. Pleasure is made life's
purpose, pleasure its single aim. Not purely recreation but
self-gratification; not merely amusement in the form of
harmless diversion, but such as is detrimental to the
individual and to the race. And closely connected with the
pursuit of pleasure is the serious increase of sexual
license; for the pleasures of the body are the ones we most
often meet with; these have usurped the family title.
Not joy is being sought, not happiness, not gladness —
but sensuous stimulation and gratification, impairing
physical and mental health; for who that is a slave to
[body-] pleasure is not in an evil condition both as to his
body and his mind ? Such pleasure exhausts ones powers,
while joy increases them. Pleasure is usually followed by
its opposite, grief; while it is a characteristic of real joy
that it never changes into an opposite, because joy is
absolute, while pleasure is but relative.
 The mere sum of pleasures does not constitute
happiness; more often people are unhappy, on account of
pleasure. In grasping pleasure they may imagine that they
are finding happiness, whereas they are finding only a
frenzied and incomplete oblivion. For that is all that
pleasure is, a matter of momentary oblivion, a chasing of
shadows, an utmost self-delusion. In pleasure, there is
something positively unreal and not genuine. It is no part
of real life. The pleasure principle, prevails over the reality
principle to the detriment of the whole organism. While
imagining that they amuse themselves in the pursuit of
pleasure, people frequently destroy if not themselves then
at least their chances of perpetual joy.
Well considered, pleasure is neither good nor useful. It
melts away the moment it is grasped, leaving naught but
dissatisfaction and emptiness. This void which we try to
fill by the stimulus of sensations calls ever for more of the
unsatisfying pleasure.
Giving to the word pleasure a wider meaning than that
of indulgence of the body, it becomes necessary to
distinguish degrees of pleasure, supplying either physical
or emotional or intellectual satisfaction. And when one
gets higher than the intellect, one finds a state of joy in
which all pleasures, even of the intellect become as
nothing.
Naturally the pleasures derived from the higher
faculties are preferable, to those of which the animal
nature is susceptible. Pleasures of the mind are more
considerable to ones happiness than, pleasures of the
body. Bodily pleasures, rightly are called slavish; they are
undoubtedly the lowest of all.
Not any person who knows a relatively higher pleasure
would ever want to surrender it for a lesser kind. Nobody
would choose to retain the mind of a child throughout his
life, even though he could continue to enjoy the pleasures
of childhood to the utmost. Still less do they who have
found true joy — of which there is within oneself an
unconditioned and unlimited supply — long to go back to
any form of pleasure the nature of which is to gratify the
personality by limited means, conditioned from without.
They would not resign what they possess, for the most
complete satisfaction of all desires.
To make pleasure the aim of life is a sure way to
deprive it of all true joy. The moment that reason gets the
upper hand pleasure is discarded. This is why the true
philosopher, abstains from pleasures. He sees that
pleasure is one of the chief things that beguile men from
the higher path, because it increases and intensifies the
personality, which tenaciously holds on to the material
side of life, thus barricading itself against the spirit.
If you seek pleasures, you are as far short of wisdom as
you Are short of joy; for joy is an elation of the spirit; it
can be attained only by the wise. Only when pleasures
have been banished, then, there comes upon us a
boundless joy that is firm and unalterable.
The trouble is that in the pursuit of pleasure most
people have conscripted the concrete mind to serve on the
side of the emotions and the senses; and this rebellious
triumvirate triumphantly sweeps aside all higher-minded
and spiritual considerations.
Each of the three alone — the mind, the emotions or
the senses — could be confuted and induced to join the
elevating evolutionary forces; but united, the three-in-one
obstreperously hold on to their contemptuous,
tempestuous reign of gross material pleasure. They thrive
impelling man to snatch at passing pleasure, thwarting his
acquisition of lasting happiness.
Within each human entity, near the high mountain top
of ones own spiritual being, there is a spring of purest joy
compared with which all pleasure drawn from the outside
world is tasteless, drab and disillusioning.
Not without some exertion can that spring be reached.
It lies high above the valley of polar opposites; to reach it
 one must rise above all opposites — hence also rise above
sex. But even though their crops of relative pleasure
inevitably are followed by inexterminable growths of pain,
most people prefer to remain down in the valley, rather
than to make the effort to climb to the source of absolute
joy.
The spiritual man feels spiritual joy which is superior
to material pleasure, exceeding it a thousand times s; he
looks upon the lower satisfactions of life as stranglers of
the real joys. When the elating joy from the inner source
has been once tasted, mere pleasure will become not only
un-craved for but simply and literally repulsive. Then all
the childish pleasures of the world will fade away in the
joy of spiritual life; and they who have cast away passion,
will reach the highest joy.

THE SENSES
IF WE compare the organization of human nature with that
of an army in the field, the physical senses represent the
outposts which report their findings to the central
intelligence department. Successful progress depends upon
the use made of the data received from the outposts. An
army whose scouts are permitted to smuggle intoxicating
and salacious supplies into headquarters and into the
encampments is doomed to failure. So is human progress
impossible when the senses are allowed to introduce
questionable sensations into body and mind.
In the course of evolution sense-awareness first came into
expression in the plants, inciting the beginnings of a
development of emotion. In the animals the emotions,
stimulated by physical senses under the control of instinct,
laid the foundation for a development of mind. In the same
way, in order that evolution may progress, the mind in man
should intelligently prepare the coming into expression of
spirituality. For this purpose the mind should keep a strict
control over the senses, and train them to a responsiveness
to ever higher vibrations, never permitting them to disrupt
the human intelligence or to carry passion-stirring elements
into the system.
However, in most people the senses are not controlled by
the mind but on the contrary are allowed to dominate it.
Thus the senses, having mastered reason, have led man into
pursuit of pleasure, and lust has become his second nature.
Instead of being used to digest the observations of the senses
for the benefit of spiritual growth, the mind of the majority is
made to serve the senses and to encourage these in a
response to the coarsest vibrations. In this way mind and
senses have combined to excite the passions of the body.
Instead of serving as observation outposts for the
guidance of spiritual evolution, the senses have been
enlisted in the service of sensuous and sensual self-
gratification. This can never be in harmony with
evolution, because such gratification coarsens the
individual instead of refining him; and the struggle to
acquire for oneself the means of gratification strengthens
separateness and thereby opposes the spiritual oneness,
at a realization of which evolution aims.
Generally the senses have usurped a place beyond
their station, and dominated an organism which is made
for higher activities. The majority not only have submitted
to that domination by the senses, but have encouraged it
by seeking satisfactions almost exclusively through
sentient experience, and by depriving the inner man of all
power in order to use it for the outer man. The spiritual
faculty is closed to most men by the incrustation of the
senses.
In almost every way the inclinations of sense, are quite
contrary to those of the spirit; if submitted to they blunt
the susceptibility to all sublimer things.
Under the sway of the senses the whole keyboard of
the emotions may be played upon by sensuous stimuli.
But especially in the domain of sex unwarranted power
has been delegated to the physical senses. Their alertness
to sex-stimulating impressions has been encouraged and
overdeveloped by ages of licentiousness. As a result of the
habitual sharpening of the senses in this respect, the
sexual system has become artificially and unduly
responsive to tactile and olfactory, to auditory and visual
impressions, and thus sexual
excitement is furnished, from all [sense] organs of the
body.
Fundamentally it is not the senses that are to be
blamed for the unnatural excitability of the libido. The
fault lies with the way in which the senses have been used,
and with the mental and emotional response to sentient
impressions. Each of the physical senses should be trained
and developed to the utmost in its own particular field for
the purpose of expanding ones awareness through
conscious observation. But when the activities of one of
the senses are used as a reminder and as a stimulant of
other sensations, and when they are turned into means of
sensual gratification — then there is abuse of natural
faculties; then the senses are developed to the exclusion
and at the cost of higher faculties; then evolution cannot
proceed.
Always to discriminate clearly between a natural and
an unnatural use of the physical senses is a rather difficult
problem because the world of the senses as well as the
world of the body is delusive except to him who has
escaped from carnal lusts. Until this has been attained
mens perceptions are warped by their passions.° At least
some degree of clear spiritual perception is essential to
right discrimination. But human passion and [misapplied]
physical senses are ever in the way of the development of
spiritual perceptions. The eye of the man of sensuous
perception is closed firmly to all that is transcendental.
Until a glimpse has been caught of either a subjective or
an objective transcendental world it may remain difficult
to believe that anything exists except what is observable
through the physical senses.
Yet it is well enough known that the possibilities of
observation through the physical senses are limited.
Whether or not assisted by mechanical appliances, these
senses make possible an awareness of various wide fields
of the external world — fields differing from each other in
their ranges of vibrations. But the sum total of all those
fields that one can at best become aware of through all the
senses together is far from covering the entire outside
world. It is scientifically acknowledged that between and
beyond the ranges of vibrations knowable by the senses
there are wider ranges to which the physical sense organs
can not be made to respond.
There is however no logical reason to reject the idea
that man, without leaving the physical body, can develop
other powers than those of the physical senses for the
perception of what these senses cannot perceive. But only
few have been able to affirm from experience that there is
a spiritual power of seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and
tasting — a power of direct perception of which the vulgar
have no conception and of which even the learned usually
do not know the existence. Few know by fully conscious
experience that there are loftier beauties which in the
sense-bound life we are not granted to know, To the vision
of these we must mount, leaving sense to its own lower
place. But only whoever gets out of subjection to the
senses can be a person of spiritual vision. And this may be
brought about, through oblivion of the passions.
Therefore the wise ones tarry not in pleasure-grounds of
senses. Indeed, never was there a wise man who had not
to reject pleasures of the senses to acquire his wisdom.
For only if the senses are restrained the intelligence
increases.
To be immune to the attractions of the senses is to
invite into expression the spiritual powers; and the more
the spirit increases in power the more it is detached from
sensible objects. Then it finds that beyond all the
[physical] sensations there is a bliss compared to which
the pleasures of the senses are [like those of children’s
playthings. Then it knows the boundless joy that lies
beyond the senses.
But already long before this stage has been reached it
becomes clear that true happiness never comes to us
through the avenue of the senses, and that even for the
sake of simple happiness the sense nature of man must be
subordinated to the aims of the spirit. Man must lead a
life above sense, rising till he touches the infinite region of
spirit.

INSPIRATION

ALTHOUGH IT may not seem a demonstrable fact, the

limit of inspiration is the limit of receptivity, produced by
the discipline of the lower nature. The more this is under
control, the higher ones aspirations may become. And
inspiration is but a negative reception of impressions in
response to aspiration. Inspiration is not under the
positive control of the will. It comes in flashes, be it
through the mind or through one of the senses. It can only
find its way where mind or sense is hypersensitive.
Art being dependent more on the senses than on the
mind, a high degree of sensitiveness of one or more of the
senses is indispensable to an artist if he is to receive
inspiration. In the course of harmonious evolution such a
sensitiveness is acquired along with a proportionate
development of all the other elements that constitute
evolutionary progress. But in the artist the sense-
sensitiveness frequently is a manifestation of one-sided
growth — such as the athlete, the scientist, the mystic, the
philosopher and the yogi often demonstrate along other
single tracks of evolvement.
 With the sensitized senses as a means of contact with
the beauty side of nature, the artistic temperament may
sometimes open to inspirational perception of supernal
beauty. What is thus caused by nature may be imitated by
art, and the thrilled recipient tries to render it in lines or
words, in physical sound or shape or color. The business
of every form of art is but to mimic a corresponding form
of nature. The earthly artist, tries to give us a hint of his
glimpse of truth. Only those who have tried know how
small a fraction of his vision he can under the most
favorable circumstances contrive to represent.
It is in the interim between flashes of inspiration that
artists crave new sense-impressions in a longing for new
inspiration. Too often, mistaking sensuous excitement for
inspirational sensation, they seek an outlet for their
craving in sensual gratification, which many of them
virtually claim to be an essential aid to the expression of
their artistic power. But if this power were increased by
sexual activity, there certainly would be more genii.
The very nature of inspiration is such that it can only
come down from a high source, to which the aspiring one
must reach up. Inspiration constitutes the highest
purpose for which the senses can be used. Evidently then,
true inspiration can never be found on the low level of
sense-gratification. What sometimes is found on this level
and is then mistaken for inspiration, is an emotional
impetus similar to that which is occasionally instilled by
alcohol or drugs. Not on account of such stimulation but
notwithstanding its degrading quality, the resulting
animation of the faculties may find expression in the
production of things containing an element of beauty, if
their maker happens to possess the necessary technique.
But in such a case technique is often used to disguise in a
beautiful form an expression of lower emotions, which
subtly spread their pernicious influence over those who
are attracted by the admirable appearance of the form.
 Technique without inspiration can never produce true
art. Art can be real only when it is inspired by the Muses,
whose task must ever be to uplift mankind by making it
sensitive and receptive to the sublimity of supraphysical,
divine beauty. Inspiration can manifest only in response
to wholehearted aspiration — and in aspiration all
material wants are forgotten. Sense-gratification is the
irreconcilable opponent of aspiration. Aspiration, is stifled
by the net of unspiritual desires. Wherever there is but a
trace of bodily gratification there can be no question of
aspiration — hence no question of inspiration, nor of true
art either.
Occasionally great works of art have been inspired by
pure spiritual love, when this was devoid of sensual
attraction. Such were the outstanding historical cases
which are so often erroneously quoted as instances of and
as excuses for erotic romanticism in artists. Only pure
love, free from eroticism, contains an uplifting power that
can carry one toward the realm of heavenly beauty.
Hence, vaguely and crudely though it be, youth is so often
inclined to be poetic and artistic in its period of just
awakening, unsoiled, idealistic love, when the fast waxing
life force is by no thought or act diverted to the lower
centers. But whenever in young or old the life force is
involved in sexual expression, the channel for inspiration
becomes clogged.
The futile searching for inspiration in the wrong
direction is the greatest blunder of artistic temperaments.
Even though it may not always seem to interfere
immediately with their artistic expression, this error is
undoubtedly the foremost cause of the fits of melancholy,
the moodiness and lack of balance of which so many
artists suffer. And these disturbances within cannot fail to
exert a deleterious influence on their art, which as a result
in many cases shows a decadence after a short period of
auspicious productivity.
 If artists could always aspire to inspiration in a truly
super sensuous way, free from the lower attractions of the
senses, it could be theirs almost continuously. But as long
as we enjoy our senses, and do not know how to free
ourselves from their thralldom, so long will it be
impossible
. . . to break through the barrier which separates us from
a knowledge of things in themselves. And without that
knowledge even a genius remains dependent upon
unfrequent and deceptive flashes of inspiration, which are
possible only when he rises above his lower nature.
To be sure, art in its highest manifestation is a path to
cosmic consciousness. But such can never be the art of the
sense-bound, nor of the would-be artists who fill the
world with erotic literature, erratic statuary, exotic
paintings and exciting jazz.
True art can only be produced by one who keeps the
channel for inspiration free from sensual obstructions —
be it only in preparation for and during the execution of a
special work. There are great artists who feel most fit for
work when refraining entirely from sexual intercourse.
Many a one knows the harm done by sexual intercourse
on occasions of great strain; knows also that nothing
contributes more thoroughly to the suppression of
inspiration than sexual commerce. Therefore the masters
of all the more intensely emotional arts have frequently
cultivated a high degree of chastity, and men of great
genius have apparently been completely continent
throughout life.
Whoever looks for inspiration should remember that
the sublime vision comes to the pure, in a chaste body.

INTELLECT AND INTUITION

MIND IS meant to help in the liberation of mankind from

enthrallment to matter. But it cannot be of any help while
so little of it, while on an average only a tenth of its full
capacity is being used. Nor so long as the minds
instrument, the brain, and with it the rest of the body are
unprepared and insufficiently purified to utilize even that
little portion of the mind properly. The mind cannot fulfill
its liberating mission so long as people continue to make
use of what little they have available of it in the diffused
and untoward way in which most of them apply it.
Like any other force mind can be used in
multitudinous ways. When applied exclusively to material
interests, only concrete lower mind can become manifest;
this is a part of the mind which has become blinded by the
density of matter, and intellect is its highest mode of
expression. When applied to spiritual concerns another
part of the mind, abstract Mind begins to manifest and to
open the way to intuition. In other words, one might say
that materialistic-intellectual man uses the mind, while
intuitive-spiritual man uses Mind.
Intuition, by the way, springs from the same source as
instinct; both are expressions of natures intelligence. In
the form of physical instinct this unfailing intelligence is
unconsciously and only partially partaken of by the
mindless animal. But man, having mind, must by positive
effort make himself ready to share consciously in the
entire cosmic intelligence and to become natures full-
grown, willing coworker. Through tuition — through all
around exercise of his mind, and by gradually developing
Mind — he must learn how to acquire intuition, which
night be called spiritual instinct. In this way he can
reestablish the close harmonious link with natures
intelligence, which he lost when animal instinct was
replaced by an as yet imperfectly developed mentality.
When the mind first became manifest in man it was
drawn into the vortex of carnal life. The minds elements of
self-consciousness, memory and anticipation were applied
to the main interests of primitive animal-man, to his body-
impulses. Man used his mind to excite these impulses
constantly beyond their natural usefulness. Having
continued this stimulation of the passions through the
ages, the greater part of the race still clings to the habit of
using the mind inordinately in that detrimental way.
Thus in the course of time consciousness and memory
have greatly strengthened the hold of sex on mankind, and
increased the tendency to give it an unduly prominent
sway over conduct. The result is that humanity is
oversexed, and that the abuse of sex has grown excessive.
To change this abnormality it is necessary first of all that
by purification, man shall make his mind harmonious with
Mind. Most effectively the mind is purged by abstinence;
by subduing passion the mind becomes clear. And in the
degree in which a mans mind is nearer to freedom from all
passion, in that degree also is it nearer to strength.
Contrariwise those who yield themselves to lower
desires drive Mind away, and their appetites are only the
more strengthened by the mind.T Unfortunately nearly
every one clings desperately to the lower mind, seeking to
over-capitalize on his intellect. But it is the higher, ever
capitalized Mind that will eventually lead through
intuition to natures most secret chambers where she
shows her treasures only to the eye of spirit, the eye for
which there is no veil in all her kingdoms.
Under exceptionally favorable conditions intellectual
reasoning, may arrive at the door of the spiritual temple.
Occasionally some mental genius has climbed the steps
that lead up to the sanctuary's portals. If he worked in
unselfish devotion on discoveries, inventions or measures
by which to help the progress of the race, the spiritual
element in this kind of intellectual occupation may have
brought him on the very threshold of natures storehouse of
unlimited true knowledge. But in order to be able to cross
this threshold one must first realize that he who wants to
enter into the sanctuary must die to, his animal impulses
and desires. If the intellect is in the bonds of the flesh, it
will be unable to penetrate into the divine mysteries of
nature.
Even without looking for spiritual attainments the
normal growth of intellect itself depends upon a strict
limitation of sexual expression. For in individual
development as well as in the evolution of the race
intellectual power is a manifestation of the life force.
Whatever amount of this force is trifled away in sex, is lost
to the possibility of being transformed into intellectual
energy.
Of old it has been known that carnal pleasure, is at war
with intellect. And the latest scientific pronouncement
still confirms that in order to reach its full power intellect
seems to require, repression of the sexual appetite.
Therefore, to the attainment of •a life according to
intellect it is requisite to abstain from, all venereal
concerns.
That at least a measure of sexual continence is the pre-
condition, of mental energy is beyond a doubt. For all who
have to do intense mental work feel, how continence
increases their alertness and efficiency. Especially if their
continence is self-willed and freely chosen. For this reason
many eminent thinkers seem to have been without sexual
desire. They overcame it, realizing that the continent life
gives, the greatest intellectual strength.
This is not to say that everybody who refrains from
sexual acts can thereby become highly intellectual. Not
everybody is born with the potential capacity out of which
intellectual genius can be developed. Moreover, many who
do not waste part of their life force in sexual activity fritter
it away in petty personal concerns and in endless small
talk.
Decidedly, in the life of every individual a certain
asceticism, a grimly gay, whole-hearted renunciation is,
one of the most favorable conditions to the highest
intellectualism — that is to say: to the maximum of
 intellectuality that can possibly be attained in each
individual case. Therefore, if the human race is to
progress in an intellectual direction it must become, less
sexual in its proclivities.
To reach up to intuition one has to rise not only above
the attractions of the senses, but above the limitations of
the concrete mind. Thus alone can one acquire the faculty
through which direct and certain knowledge is attainable.
The manifestation of that faculty varies with the nature of
the vehicle; through the more finely differentiated fabric,
it becomes a stream of spiritual intuition. But the fabric
can be sufficiently refined only by those who are content
to be continent.

UNFOLDING OF SPIRIT
So far as man becomes spiritual, so far he puts off the love of
sex.
THE OLDEST records and legendary traditions of many
nations prove that spiritual teachings have been given to
the human race since times immemorial. They indicate
that true progress in the individual and in society consists
in a growing spiritualization and in the ever more
complete mastery of spirit over matter. But few have paid
any attention, and fewer have been willing to apply the
rules for spiritual development contained in such
teachings. The great majority has always refused to heed
the requirements for spiritual unfoldment — with the
result that the very meaning of spirituality remains little
understood. Some materialists even deny that it can have
any meaning, because they have never been able to see or
sense or in any way experience it.
A way must be found, of establishing as a fact that
there exists in man a spiritual nature which exalts him.
But just as a Bushman cannot grasp intellectuality as a
concept because he cannot know it through the senses, so
most of modern, civilized mankind seems stricken with
spiritual blindness and deafness, because spirituality is
not only beyond the power of sensual perception but,
beyond that of intellectual comprehension. Yet, in the
words of some of the most advanced thinkers, including
some of our own day, the spiritual life belongs to the
permanent reality of the world. Not only that, but it is the
central point of reality. The nature of all reality is
spiritual. Everywhere the ultimate reality in things is
spiritual.
Thus also man as he really is, is a spiritual being,
hidden though the spiritual side of his nature may be. And
whether he realizes it or not, man is essentially governed
by spirit. Consequently he must give prominence to its
claims — especially if he wants to evolve beyond the
sordidness and the shallowness of the average present
form of existence. The endeavor to advance in spirituality
is the soul of the life of the individual; where there is no
endeavor of this kind there is no true life. If the spiritual
side of a mans nature be undeveloped he is not truly full
grown. From an evolutionary viewpoint the goal of
attainment is spirit in its completeness. For every human
entity the attainment of spiritual individuality constitutes
a lofty goal, only to be compassed by, self-reformation and
self-discipline. But the animal nature, impedes it from
steadily progressing on the path of its evolution.
In the end spirits rule must become supreme. In the
earliest stages of expression of life in form physical bodies
had to be built. In the body sense-awareness and
emotions were then developed, and they governed the
actions of the body. At a further stage intellect became
manifest, and it now influences the emotions — unwisely
yet, because intellect itself is still imperfect and unwise.
Quite logically and naturally this stage must be followed
by the unfolding of spirituality, which eventually will rule
wisely over all physical and emotional and mental
activities. It is only when the spiritual rules and directs
that there can be permanent harmony. And the highest
efficiency can be attained only when the sex nature is,
kept under the control of the spiritual faculties.
In each of us the four factors — body, emotion, mind
and spirit — coexist, although they are not equally active.
So far we have been largely limited to the lower aspects of
the first three. United into one these three — dense
physical body, sensuous emotions and concrete mind —
make up the personality with all its grasping, greedy
tendencies, its self-interest and its personal, material
wants. We have become foolishly convinced that the
highest perfection of man is the development of the wants
of the personality, and that happiness consists in
gratifying those wants. But the most superficial analytic
observation of modern civilization should prove to any
one the utter fallacy of this idea; the present generations
nerve-wrecking search for happiness proves to be
unsuccessful because it is directed toward personal
gratification instead of toward spiritual attainment.
The widespread lack of happiness lies mainly in the
neglect of the spiritual principle. Not only is there neglect
but resentment and resistance. The personality opposes
the advent of the impersonality of spirit, because it feels
that under the sway of spirit its own selfish ways will be
endangered. But before spirituality can even begin to
manifest, the resistance of the personality must change
into willing, longing aspiration. For the spiritualization of
human life a longing rooted in the whole being is
primarily necessary.
Suitable conditions for spiritual life must be prepared.
Spirit cannot find expression so long as the lower
passions chain the higher aspirations to the rock of
matter. Only as the soul is purified from all sensual
affections, does it attain to liberty of spirit. Naturally the
spiritual man must be stronger than his impulses, for
true spirituality can be attained only when a pure life is
led. Before one can attract the spiritual qualities, one
must repulse the sexual tendencies.
Can man rise to this spiritual level? On the possibility
of his doing so rests all our hope of supplying any
meaning and value to life. Not until the spiritual element
finds expression in human nature is there a chance for
the realization of an ideally harmonious and peaceful life
on earth.

MARRIAGE
IT HAS long been thought that a permanent sexual
partnership existed in many of the higher animal species.
Later, more extensive and closer study seems to have
shown that its occurrence is a great exception. But this
scarcity of instances in the animal world does not
disprove that monogamy is and remains an evolutionary
institution belonging to the human stage.
Man, having evolved beyond the animal, cannot take
its ways of living as an exact model for his own. He has to
raise the instinctive tendencies of the lower kingdom to a
higher standard. To do this successfully he has to follow
the fundamental lines of development which nature has
laid down. In regard to mating the general trend has been
that with a lengthening of the period of gestation and of
helplessness of the progeny there must be a union of male
and female for the bringing up of the young, and this
union must be of considerable duration. It is through this
extended and devoted cooperation that sexual
reproduction leads to
. . . the dawn of the love of mates and the evolution of
parental emotions. For love develops in interdependence
better than in independence.
It is not the sexual communion that gives rise to
affection and love, but the close cooperation and the
community of interests. And this sharing of interests is to
be raised from the material level to the mental and then to
the spiritual — until it loses all connection with sex.
If nature has not on every side given the example of
monogamy, yet the evolutionary development toward this
relationship has been clearly indicated. If nature in its
lower kingdom has not supplied many a perfected model
of a permanent marriage relation, she has at least laid a
solid foundation for it. On this natural basis humanity
could have erected a beautiful structure of towering
strength, designed with mounting lines of highest
aspiration, constructed throughout of stone of flawless
purity. But instead of adding to natures work man has
discarded the natural foundation, and on more accessible
but much lower ground has built a flimsy structure for
sexual convenience.
Marriage as it is today is a corrupt institution.
Compared with its ideal form the actual marriage, in its
squalid perversity, is as the wretched idol of the savage to
the reality which it is supposed to represent; it is only
mans little clay image of the heavenly love, cracked in the
fire of daily life. Physical sense, places it on a false basis.
.... The perfect marriage utilizes sex in physical expression
only for reproduction and serves in its secondary,
psychological effects as a means of arousing the higher
emotions of
reverence, and compassion and self-sacrifice, leading to a
spiritualization of affection. But the human imitation uses
sex for sensual satisfaction. As long as marriage contains a
trace of this sensual element it forms an impervious
obstacle to spiritual expansion.

Even though legalized by the state, sanctified by the

church, and acclaimed by popular standards, the licensed
licentiousness of carnal marriage remains antagonistic to
natures purposes and to mans higher development.
The mere going through a religious rite or a legal
formality cannot possibly change natures physiological
 and spiritual laws. Quite in harmony with the highest
concepts of moral philosophy science refuses to admit
that the ceremony of marriage nullifies or changes natural
principles. Scientifically considered there is no difference
whatever between the married and the unmarried so far
as the physical sex act and its consequences are
concerned.°
Of course, even practical sociological considerations
raise human reproduction in wedlock ethically and
psychologically above that in unmarried relationship. But
from whatever standpoint non-productive sexual
intercourse in marriage may be sanctioned or condoned,
it constitutes as much an infraction of natural law as out
of wedlock. The sanction that has been invented is merely
an ingenious defense of a desire. From natures standpoint
the same act cannot become good or bad according as it is
performed in or out of marriage.
It is a strange delusion that marriage can make
allowable and moral that which out of marriage is
immoral. It is illogical and insincere and hypocritical to
proclaim that what is unnecessary, condemnable and
immoral before marriage should become moral,
condonable and even necessary after the marriage
ceremony. There is no worse prejudice than to believe that
sensuality can be justified by the lawful bonds of
marriage.
If illicit intercourse is unnecessary to health, then lick
intercourse is equally superfluous. There cannot be the
slightest difference between the two kinds as far as
necessity to health is concerned. Social or legal or religious
contracts cannot affect the fact that sexual indulgence is
not necessary to health. And always, under all
circumstances,.. every purposeless or merely sensual
communion is a waste of vital energy. Physiologically as
well as morally lust is an abomination, whether it be in the
state of wedlock or out of it.
 In regard to sex marriage in its existing form is as
incompatible as free love with the highest interpretations
of the moral law as well as of the physiological.

The logical conclusion from the preceding remarks is

not that marriage should be abolished, but that it should
be elevated. Far from having outgrown the necessity of
marriage, materialistic humanity has not even begun to
understand what real marriage means.
As long as the sexual method of reproduction lasts, a
permanent partnership of one man with one woman is not
to be substituted or supplemented by less durable, more
exciting sexual attachments, but to be purified and
evolved into a loftier union. Even if one holds that
marriage is essentially the adjustment of the sexual
tensions prevailing between the sexes, the fact remains
that the adjustment may be accomplished in the manner
of a purely spiritual completion. The true marriage is,
beyond lower sex attraction.
Continence in marriage is undoubtedly more difficult
than in the unmarried state. Within the married relation
the sex desire is enormously stimulated because the
opportunity for its satisfaction is unhindered. Moreover,
the almost general approval given by a sense-bound,
thoughtless world to underproductive intercourse in
marriage tends to break down whatever scruples one or
both of the wedded partners may have against it.
It may require rare power of will, combined with high-
mindedness and strong convictions to resist entirely the
desire for sexual gratification in the physical closeness of
wedlock. Yet, strict continence in married life is not
without illustrations of those who have voluntarily chosen
it. There are couples who, give up sexual relations
absolutely, and are not any less happy, but often more
happy on that account.
In the ideal marriage the partners will unite in sexual
congress only in a longing for parenthood, conscious of the
 sacrificial nature of their act. No one can doubt that the
bringing forth of a child is a sacrifice on the woman's part.
That in its highest aspect the fructifying act is a sacrifice on
the part of the male will gain recognition when the value of
the secretions of the sex glands and the currents of the life
force in the body are better understood. Far from having to
fear impairment of body or of nerves, those who seek the
ideal, may live a life of marital continence not only without
injury but with positive benefit. Moreover, abstinence, will
but serve to strengthen mutual affection, whereas in most
carnal marriages the affection gradually diminishes. The
feeling of attachment, becomes stronger and more constant
when the conjugal relation is maintained habitually pure. In
the recognition of this fact is to be found the secret of
married happiness between wedded advanced and cultured
individuals. For happiness in marriage depends for sure not
on the animal functions but on qualities of spirit. An
unparalleled connubial happiness can only be realized when
the great fact of the spiritual nature of the true marriage
crystallizes into more clearness, when union is not sought in
flesh but in ideal companionship.
After all, pure affection, depends much more on ties of
comradeship than on merely passionate elements. And
really satisfactory comradeship is sexless. In the — progress
of marriage, with those who are spiritual the love of sex is
exterminated — leaving the field free for the manifestation
of true, pure love.

SOUL-MATES
THE SOUL-MATE theory propounds that somewhere in
the universe each human soul has its supplementary
counterpart with which it was originally at one and with
which it must seek to be reunited. And this is usually
interpreted as a reunion in the flesh.
This theory is based apparently upon the hypothesis
found in various ancient teachings that at one time there
were no separate male and female bodies, but that each
body was complete in itself, self-reproductive, containing
equally active male and female elements such as many
plants still do possess. The theory suggests that nature, in
creating separate sexes, suddenly split the hermaphroditic
body into halves, at the same time splitting the indwelling
soul into two separate units.
Nature however is more likely to have worked slowly,
to have changed the physical form gradually through
endlessly succeeding generations, without in any way
affecting the soul. In one series of changes the female
elements of the bodies were made paramount, leaving
inactive rudiments of the male; in the other just the
opposite procedure must have taken place. Proof of this
evolutionary process can be seen in the vestigial organs in
the bodies of each sex. Meantime in every individual case
the indwelling soul remained just what it was: a complete
being as before, now temporarily using a single-sexed
instead of a double-sexed body. This natural process does
not present the slightest logical basis for the soul-mate
idea.
Another source from which the soul-mate theory may
have sprung is the little understood metaphysical concept
known as the mystic marriage. Christian mystics have
symbolically described this as the marriage to Christ
(supreme love). Philosophical mystics have spoken of it as
their marriage to Sophia (supreme wisdom).
Mohammedan mystics have written about it in the most
glowing words as the union with the Beloved (the spirit).
In every case the language used in carrying out the simile
has frequently been of such a nature as to mislead the
reader who has no understanding of mystic lore, and to
leave the impression that indeed a personal and sexual
union with another soul was meant.
But the mystic marriage does not refer to any personal
union, not even of soul with soul. It personifies the
impersonal and immaculate union of soul with spirit, with
what may be called the divine counterpart of the soul. It
depicts the reunion of the soul with that from which it
came and of which it is only an individualized part. The
mystic marriage symbolizes the union of the soul with
ones higher self, with the divine essence that dwells in
each. As a result of this spiritual, inward union the perfect
man with perfect love and with perfect wisdom is born. It
is the union that every human being shall have to seek and
bring about as evolution proceeds. But this union with
spirit cannot take place so long as there remains a
tendency toward sexual gratification.
Sex has to be transcended before soul can
know spirit.
From whatever source it may have been taken, the
soul-mate theory confuses the idea of soul attraction with
that of sex attraction, for it looks on the plane of the soul
for a sexual mate. But the soul itself is sexless. All souls
are of the selfsame nature, nor male, nor female are they.
Souls do not propagate; therefore they need no
reproductive faculty, no sex.
No wonder then that as a rule they are miserably
deceived who look for a mate from on high. If they were
willing to purify their sexual relation they might find
lasting soul companionship, which can be only sexless.
But if the self-styled soul-mates dwell on the sexual level
they soon find naught but soulless sex communion.
The theory of soul-mates has not been demonstrated as
workable in practice. Is there a single instance in which
those who joined because they thought themselves to be
soul-mates, have proven to be inseverably reunited halves
of one unit? Their tie rarely survives the stage of sexual
satiety, which never fails to come unless sex is
surmounted. At best so-called soul-mates are no better or
no worse than any other mates. But too often soul-
mateship is only an excuse for those who want to change
from one mate to another.
However, apart from doubtful soul-mate theories a
strong attraction may exist between soul and soul,
between souls similarly attuned and equally high-
evolved. No greater boon can come to any soul than to be
closely linked with another kindred one. But this can only
take place when purity has been established to such an
extent that the soul no longer yearns for the seductive
pleasures of the senses. In a tie of soul with soul sex plays
no pad.
Sex attraction must be overcome before soul can know
soul.

LOVE VERSUS SEX

Sexuality and love are opposed principles.

CONCUPISCENCE HAS nothing in common with love.

Popular opinion in its confusing way may declare them to
be identical or inseparable, but they remain in essence
mutually inimical.
Love is spiritual and increases the dominion of spirit; sex
is physical and emphasizes the power of matter at the cost
of spirit. Love belongs to the soul, sex to the body. Love is
eternal, sex is ephemeral. Love is selfless, sex is selfish;
there is no selfishness so deep as the selfishness of sex
indulgence. Love works for the interests of the other, sex
for its own. Love radiates, sex vampires Love in
abundance refines and elevates, sex in abundance
coarsens and degrades. Love by itself gives restful bliss;
sex by itself gives restless cravings. Love speeds evolution,
sex retards it. Basically earthly sex is opposed to spiritual
love, and love, is antagonistic to those elements which
press towards sexual union. In its true nature love can be
known only when sex consciousness is absent.
Love is the unifying principle in the universe. Where
love exists there is a longing for unification, for proximity,
for sharing every expression of life on every plane of
manifestation. Hence love between the sexes usually
includes a longing to share parenthood and, as a means
thereto, to share that most Ultimate relationship that can
lead to parenthood. This relationship then comes about
indirectly as a by-product, not as a direct expression of
love. Still, when this longing to share parenthood is either
consciously or subconsciously present, sex communion
might almost be called a love act. For in such a case the
love element overwhelmingly exceeds the sex element,
which is there only to serve its natural purpose. But even
then, as a rule, sex disillusions love, so that for many a
couple with the rending of the bridal veil the illusion is
destroyed. They soon discover that sex fulfillment is not
love fulfillment.
Whenever the act is dissociated from its propagative
purpose it is entirely dissociated from love. Then it
becomes an expression of merely physical attraction and
gratification. Although momentarily uniting the bodies, it
does not unify the souls — which is the unification that
love looks for. Justification for the sexual act of two who
love each other is often sought in calling it a reflection of
the real oneness; but it remains as impossible to attain
that oneness through its so-called reflection as it is to
catch a bird by reaching out for its reflection in a pond.
Evidently an attraction that springs merely from sexual
impulse cannot be love at all. Sex, seeking its own physical
gratification, has not the slightest connection with love.
Underproductive sexual action is neither based on love,
nor does it inspire love. Instead of leading to love the
animal attraction of one body for another, ends in satiety
and disgust — proof of which can be seen in numberless
divorces, in short-lived so-called love affairs, and in the
discordant relation of many married couples. Only rarely
is true love strong enough to survive the demands of sex
unscathed. Sooner than to promote love lust, readily
passes into hate. Therefore loves arch foe is lust.
Sex desire, in order to make itself more acceptable,
may disguise itself as love, and call itself sex-love. But the
d i s g u i s e c a n n o t c h a n g e i t s n a t u re . U n d e r a l l
circumstances it remains true that the indulgence of the
sexual appetite can by no means be regarded as an
expression of love. It is only an expression of desire. And
love and desire are two unlike, mutually exclusive,
opposing conditions. Love is higher than sexual desire,
and does not require sexual intimacy. The fullest fruition
of love is without the lass of virginity.

Only a slender thread connects sex and love. It consists

of natures secondary use of sexual reproduction as a
means of laying the foundation for love. The whole
strength of that thread lies in its element of reproduction,
in joining two for the sake of the young. But as soon as the
reproductive element is eliminated, the thread snaps.
Then love and sex fall apart into their natural antagonism
in which sex kills love. In uncountable cases love has been
slain upon the sexual altar.
Passion is the distortion of love. When one loves one
rises above, passion. Just because of his love the courtly
lover is pure. Those who truly love, will know that sexual
expression is, not so satisfying as spiritual affinity. The
greater and purer their love, the less there remains of sex.
Out of love and for the sake of love they renounce passion
and sex. Thus love slays the liking of lechery, and brings
into the soul true chastity. Chastity is a wealth that comes
from abundance of love.
In the course of evolution love must conquer sex. The
serpent, would devour the world, were it not vanquished
by love, by that pure love which does not feed but defeats
sex.
 When love comes into its own it will automatically
supersede sex. But the rehabilitation of love depends upon
the recovery of mans spiritual significance. Not until man
removes the greatest obstacle to his spiritual unfoldment
not until he frees himself from the overbearing power of
sex can love come into expression.

BIRTH CONTROL
REPULSIVE TO all of us is the custom of those ancient
Porn peians who used emetics at their dinner parties.
After eating all that the stomach would hold they
promptly emptied it in their vomitorium in order to be
able to eat again. They did not eat for the natural purpose
of preserving the body, but for the satisfaction of their
unnatural appetite. They ate exclusively for the
pleasurable sensation of tasting and swallowing food, for
sense-gratification. And they must have judged
themselves extremely clever for having discovered how to
circumvent the purpose for which nature has designed the
digestive system. But today everybody looks back in
disgust at that unwholesome and vulgar practice of the
past.
- Yet, far more loathsome is the now widespread
practice of contraception. By humiliating preparations
which reduce the body to a mere instrument for sensual
expression, or by other unethical methods, contraceptors
seek to circumvent the purpose for which nature has
designed the reproductive
--system. These nature thwarters want cohabitation, not
for the natural purpose of race perpetuation but for the
satisfaction of their unnatural sex appetite, for sensual
gratification.
So cunning and specious are the modern arguments
which are advanced in support of contraception, and so
strongly do they appeal to an already over sensualized
generation, that birth control has become a readily
 accepted custom of the day. But undoubtedly a more
sensitized world of the future will view contraceptives
with the distaste now felt for the ancient resort of emetics!
Because humanity is what it is, birth control has found
countless propagandists and adherents. But just because
humanity is no better than it is, its present standards
cannot be accepted as the best and noblest. Just as a cry of
all the world for war does not make war an ideal world
condition — and just as a craving for narcotics in a
growing number of people does not make their use an
advisable habit for any one — so does the popularity of
contraceptives not justify their use. All that it proves is
that there are many people who gladly welcome any means
to evade a natural consequence of sexual indulgence.
Whatever sociological and other purely materialistic
contentions may be put forth to defend contraception, all
its methods are and remain a sordid perversion of natures
designs and purposes. All methods that intentionally and
artificially prevent the possibility of fructification are
inherently unnatural and abnormal. All methods of
producing the orgasm by contact of the sexes save the
normal one are unphysiologic, and therefore injurious. At
the best they are tampering with nature, and that is a
dangerous thing in itself. Nature cannot be abused with
impunity. She has her own unfailing way of upholding her
precepts and she is prompt to punish any infringement of
her laws by those who are legally married as well as those
who illicitly break them. Though she often seems to be
satisfied with deferred payment, she exacts it finally in one
coin or another. Never can any advantage be taken of
nature by a trick.
Under all circumstances when no children are desired
the exercise of the sexual function, is a detriment. When
any kind of preventives of conception are used their
uncertainty, their desperate matter-of-factness, and the
probability that they are in one way or another dangerous
or harmful: all these things are against them.
There is no harmless way in which to prevent
conception, at least not by artificial means. There is but
one prescription which is both safe and sure, namely: that
the sexes shall remain apart. The best means to prevent
conception is total sexual abstinence, and it is perfectly
harmless. Every mode of prevention, other than that of
living in chastity, is an evident violation of nature. The
idealist, insists that the proper method of birth control is
self-control, and he condemns the use of contraceptives.
Contraceptive practices, are objected to by some
authorities on the ground that they are liable to induce
nervous or mental instability. Eminent neurologists and
psychiatrists talk in terms of neuroses and psychoses as
the result of the refusal of parenthood by those who yet
practice sexual congress.
When parenthood is wished for after using
contraceptives for some time, there is often
disappointment. This is because in the woman the use of
contraceptives may have destroyed the capacity for
motherhood; for it seems probable that sperm-
overloading is a cause of sterility. In fact, world-renowned
authorities have posited sterility as an almost certain
consequence of contraception.
The gravest objection to the use of even the [seemingly]
safest contraceptives, is that they are psychologically
unnatural. All the means that have been resorted to in
order to prevent conception, disturb the finer sensibilities
of man and woman — especially of the woman, since here,
as so often in matters of sex, the mans satisfaction is
largely at the cost of the woman.
The supreme objection to all methods of contraception
is in the spiritual field. No one can all practice any form of
birth control, without being injured spiritually. The very
thought leading to the decision to reduce sexual congress
to an act of unproductive self-gratification tends to
 paralyze every nascent spiritual faculty. Even if
contraceptives were made absolutely reliable and not in
the least injurious, their application would still remain not
only an anti-natural but also — by its prevention of
spiritual growth — an anti-evolutionary, hence in final
effect an anti-social procedure.

EUGENICS
To bring about a higher type of humanity, the individual must
repress his strong animal impulses.

UNQUESTIONABLY THE procreation of children should

be a matter far more carefully regulated by moral
considerations than it is at present; for under conditions
as they are the welfare of unborn populations of the earth
is continually being sacrificed to the sensualism of their
progenitors. In order to remove the greatest obstacle to
the improvement of the race man must assume a more
complete restraint over his reproductive functions and
subordinate his inclinations to the future interests of his
descendants.
Even where love links the parents it rarely happens
that in sexual relations much unselfish thought is
bestowed upon unborn individuals. Yet a conscientious
man and woman would not enter upon procreation
without the most serious considerations as to the
probable value of their progeny. To make the productive
act ideally effective they will raise it to a deed of love for
the unborn, and gladly sacrifice their personal
gratifications to the welfare of the child.
Love between the parents is of course a factor of
inestimable value to the progeny on account of the
harmony which will influence conception, gestation and
childhood. But eugenically considered, mutual love of the
parents is not the greatest, not even an indispensable
factor for the wellbeing of the babe. After all, procreation
is carried on quite successfully by means of the ordinary
organic functions, without any lofty ecstasy of personal
love; and even artificial insemination — which entirely
excludes the element of love of the parents for each other
— has been demonstrated to be of practical eugenic value.
The one imperative eugenic requirement is parental
dedication to the child-to-be, even long before it is
conceived.
Most parents are ready for any sacrifice, any renunciation
for the well-being of their child, once it is born. But for its
greatest possible well-being potential parents — and that
means all youth — must be willing to keep their bodies in
such a condition that a faultless seed and a perfect soil
shall be available for the prenatal growth. Almost as a rule
however the male contribution to the seed has been
weakened, and very often infected with inheritable
disease, by abuse of the reproductive organs. And where
in the past at least the soil — the mothers body — used to
offer the fetus a fair chance, this factor too is more and
more exposed to vitiation. Mankind seems to deteriorate
deliberately into animalistic parents of an ever more
wretched posterity.
Any tampering with the sexual function before it is
being used for the conception of a child endangers the
purity of the seed and of the soil. Promiscuity is
particularly fateful in this respect, because in the intimacy
of the sexual act each of the partners leaves a permanent
impression on the other. Traces of these impressions are
carried to later partners, and eventually to descendants.
Physical proof of this lies in the recognized fact that for a
white woman, when stamped with the sexual vibrations of
other races,, to bring forth a white child, even in
conjunction with a male of the white race, is impossible.
Similarly the prospective father brings with him the
commingled, usually polluting influences of every woman
with whom he has sexually conjoined. And these
influences affect not only the physical constitution; they
are much farther reaching in their effect, for promiscuity
in sex commerce adulterates the soul essences. Therefore
unbroken virginity of both prospective parents until they
come together for intended propagation is an essential
eugenic requirement.
Not less important for the progeny than sexual purity
of the parents before intended reproductive action is the
avoidance of ardent passion during coitus. For carnal
passions are transmitted, through conception in the fire of
lust. The union of two bodies, need not be spoiled by
vulgar sensuality, if a powerful affinity of souls imparts to
it the ideal character of an appeal for their unborn child. A
higher evolved ego can thus be attracted.

Another notable eugenic requisite is absolute sexual

abstinence during the period of gestation and of nursing.
Undisturbed maternity, is a vital and indisputable
necessity for the improvement of humanity. If humanity
would follow strictly the edicts of nature coition would be
absolutely omitted during the gestation period. The whole
force at these times should be taken up with providing
sustenance for the new body. If only for this reason,
sexual intercourse should cease when the purpose of
nature is fulfilled. But another reason for its cessation is
that, when exercised, it is very often found to be injurious
to pregnant women. The venereal orgasm has the
character of a violent nervous crisis, and in their
condition, every nervous commotion has its danger. In
normal individuals it should be repugnant to the female
during gestation. Where it is not, there is hereditarily
perverted sexual physiology due to the unphysiologic
approaches of the male all practiced through the ages.
Some obstetric writers have, granted a license which
leads to more evil than good. For it is a more frequent
came of premature confinement than is commonly
supposed. Also it is not =seldom a cause of miscarriage,
and increases the pain and danger connected with child
birth. Therefore from an early period great authorities
have declared themselves in opposition to the custom of
practicing coitus during pregnancy. Even uncivilized
nations have condemned the practice. And medical
science is beginning to utter the same warning, and before
long will probably be in a position to do so on a more solid
and coherent evidence.
An indication of scientific evidence has already come to
light in favor, of postponement of resumption of conjugal
relations until after a baby has been weaned. It is
contained in the discovery that prolactin, produced by
glands in the mothers body for the purpose of stimulating
milk-secretion, at the same time inhibits the sex glands —
thereby calling for abstinence from intercourse as long as
feeding from the breast continues. It seems to show that
parental behavior [such as suckling] and sex activity are
antipathetic, by glandular decree. Foremost in eugenic
interest remains the fact that sexual commerce during
pregnancy [and also during the lactation period] is a
violation of the rights of the unborn.
Apart from physical considerations one of those rights
is the opportunity to be born without such anti-
evolutionary tendencies as can be forestalled by the
parents. They have to consider that such is the intimate
connection between the mother and the embryo that the
exercise of any faculty or of any organ of her body
stimulates, the corresponding faculty or organ of the
incipient child. On account of this impressionability of the
embryo couples bring upon themselves by their sensuality
the curse of sensual offspring. For one of the most certain
effects of sexual indulgence during pregnancy is to
develop abnormally the sexual impulses in the child. Here
is the key to the origin of much of the sexual precocity and
 depravity which curs! humanity, and which stand in the
way of evolutionary growth.
Truly eugenic parents are those who limit sexual
activity to intended reproduction. They are the direct
benefactors of the race by begetting progeny who are not
predisposed to vitiation. They prove that sexual
continence is not only an ascetic but also an altruistic
demand. It is by far the most essential precept for the
evolutionary improvement of the race.
Future generations will probably with a kind of horror
look back at a period when the most important function
which has fallen to the lot of man was entirely left to,
caprice and lust. In the future, this will be carried on with
a degree of conscious intelligence hitherto unknown,
which will raise it from the following of a mere impulse to
the completion of a splendid social purpose.
An important part of the task of human parents is to
enhance the spiritual life of the next generation by
planting the seed of spirit in their own child. In order to
be able to do this the parents-to-be must first unfold
spirituality in themselves.
Those who are imbued with a high degree of
responsibility for the welfare of the race will not hesitate
to apply its laws to their own lives - now.

ADOLESCENCE

You just maturing youth! You male or female! Anticipate your

own life. . . Retract in time.

ADOLESCENCE, THE time of maturing youth, is that

stormy period, when the very worst and best impulses in
the human soul struggle against each other for its
possession. Every impulse that is allowed freedom of
expression at this time leaves an indelible impression on
the rest of life.
During adolescence the sexual element develops in the
body and tries to press its claims. Overstimulated from
within and from without and encouraged by popular
casuistry it clamors for satisfaction before it is matured.
But if sex is yielded to prematurely, then to the same
extent that this is done the individual will literally run to
seed. Many an individual has had reason to regret the
indulgences of his youth because of, their effect upon his
further life.
Whenever allowed expression, early forms of
indulgence interfere with normal growth of body, of
emotions and of mind, as well as with spiritual
unfoldment. Growth in each of these directions is
dependent upon the same force as is the sexual faculty.
That life force, if expended in one channel, is lost for
another. The longer its outlet towards sex is deferred, the
greater is the refinement and breadth and strength of
character resulting.
Hence if the growth toward a perfected humanity is to
be aided, a delay in entering actively on the sexual life
must be one of the adaptations that has to go along with
evolution. It is the only way to give the higher faculties a
chance to come into expression at all. Therefore the result
of evolution, has been to lengthen the period of
development. The animal matures very quickly, but only
physically; and during its maturation nature takes care,
through instinct, that no force is wasted in sexual
channels. Savages develop physically and emotionally; by
taboo the unspoiled tribes are restrained from premature
sexual expression. Civilized individuals must pass through
an additional mental development, and the period of
adolescence is therefore necessarily prolonged. For young
people sexual restraint is indispensable during a period of
more and more years, if they are to mature well.
The only way to an ever higher and fuller maturity
 is by self-restraint°, by perfect sexual abstinence during
an ever longer period of adolescence. In the average
individual at the present time complete maturity is
reached by the woman after the twentieth, and by the man
not before the twenty-fifth year. As evolution advances
and spiritual development is added to the mental, the
period of adolescence and of needed absolute juvenile
continence will be still more extended.

The indisputable fact that strict continence is at no

time more important than during adolescence has been
recognized and stressed by every student of the subject.
Yet the false rumor that sexual abstinence be injurious, is
exerting a most pernicious influence upon youth. In
reality abstinence can in no way injure them. Whereas
premature sexual acts mean, shortened lives. Not that
continence alone assures a long life, but, it is an evident
contribution to longevity. In every individual case the
maximum length of life attainable undoubtedly depends
very much upon the preservation of the life force. The
amount of this force available in one individual or another
may vary greatly; each one seems limited to whatever
quo-turn fate has put at his disposal. But a misdirected
spending of ones energies will tend to shorten the physical
existence and reduce the balance on which to draw for
other essential and beneficial purposes. A point deserving
special attention is that the sexual is in closest connection
with the cerebral system. The immediate effect of sexual
desire upon the brain, is sometimes very marked. The
nerves that supply the sexual centers are directly
connected with the brain by means of the spinal canal; if
those nerves become weakened the brain is at once
effected to a corresponding degree. This is why the
tampering with the sexual impulse tends to produce a
lasting impression on the cerebral centers, and also why
sexual indulgence is ruinous to mental health.
 The brain and the sexual organs are, great rivals in
using up bodily energy. When the reproductive organs
make demands, they can be satisfied only at the expense
of the brain. Therefore premature sexual activity impairs
the educability of the child. Early sexual expression signs
away the highest reaches of individual development,
which otherwise could be attained. It produces mediocrity
and conventionality of mind.
The intellectual life of a whole nation must suffer if
sexual activity is the rule among its young people.
In a general way idealism is one of the most splendid
characteristics of adolescent youth. Especially the joy, the
cordial merriment, the sunny confidence of vigorous
young people who have remained chaste are characteristic
traits. Such youths are also the most gentle and sensitive,
open to poetic inspiration and to enthusiastic support of
Utopian movements.
But as soon as youth yields to the sordidness of sexual
expression for self-gratification, or to indulgence in erotic
thoughts, the splendid enthusiasm disappears, often to
make place for a cynical materialism. So much of the life
force is then wasted on the sexual level that none can be
transformed into the higher energy on which aspiration
and idealism depend. Thus continence, is connected with
ideal aspirations no less than with physical vigor and with
mental clarity. Therefore the way to maintain a strong and
pure idealism through life is to adhere to continence.
For many reasons then the ideal of chastity is, the very
highest that can be held up to youth. If it is the effort of
their lives to be chaste, then, indeed, shall abide for them
an incorruptible felicity; then the cornerstone for a future
Utopia has been laid.
SEX AND NUTRITION
There is, a direct contrast between the processes of
conjugation and nutrition.
A PRESUMED analogy between sex and nutrition is
frequently put forth in support of a pretended
imperiousness of sexual intercourse. But in reality there is
more contrast than analogy between the two. Nutrition
sustains the life force, whereas sex consumes it. And while
food and drink are vital necessities, the generative
impulse does not serve any vital necessity, at least not of
the individual. The function of reproduction, is not
essential to the maintenance of the organism. Men can
survive without it, whereas they can not survive without
food or drink.
If reproduction were entirely stopped the race would
perish. But the continuation of the race does not require
that everybody takes part in its propagation. Therefore,
while the digestive system is designed for regular activity,
the sexual organs are constructed for intermittent action,
and their functions may be suspended without harm to
either their anatomy or physiology. And the sexual
appetite, unlike hunger or thirst, can, be reduced to a
more or less quiescent state which, far from injuring, may
benefit the physical and psychic vigor generally. In fact,
one may live without carnal activity, and never better than
without it.
Another distinction between sex and nutrition is that
nutrition is inherently a selfish function, serving self-
preservation; whereas the sexual act as intended by
nature is an unselfish function in which the individual
sacrifices a fragment of himself for the sake of the
preservation of the race. Nutrition implies an increase in
the capital of the bodyReproduction always means a
parting with some of
the living material. While to part with this for the sake of
the species is an act of self-sacrifice, doing so for selfish
gratification without a chance of benefitting the race is but
injurious self-waste.
 The only clear analogy between nutrition and sex lies
in the fact that both are allowed to play too prominent a
part in human existence. Instead of using them as natural
means by which to keep oneself and the race alive,
humanity has chosen to live and work mainly in order to
satisfy its self-created inordinate desire for unnatural food
and drink beyond the needs of nutrition, and for
unnatural sex expression beyond the needs of
reproduction.
Nature has implanted in living beings a nutritive and a
reproductive appetite only to the extent of her own needs:
to ensure individual and racial preservation. And she has
intermingled pleasure with necessary things, in order that
the addition of pleasure may make the indispensable
means of existence attractive to us, so that they shall not
be neglected. But this bait of gratification is merely a
device of nature and not in itself an end which has any
useful function.° In unadulterated form no appetite exists,
for its own sake merely, just to be gratified.
However, nutrition and sex both are alike subject to
abuse by those who pursue the pleasure of gratification of
the animal appetites with disregard of their natural
objects. Out of both, in his continuous search of pleasure
for pleasures sake, man has distilled a means of sense-
gratification. Both impulses have been perverted by
overstimulation and by habitual indulgence.
Both of these forms of abuse are degrading, and
obstructive to evolutionary growth. But the abuse of sex is
the more injurious one, since it always consists in a
deleterious way of spending vital elements, while the
common errors in nutrition rarely omit a taking in of at
least some body-building material.
Basically everything beyond natures simple needs is
unnatural. Hence many other factors of civilized existence
may have to be regarded as not exactly natural. But none
of those other items are comparable with sex or with
nutrition, since none affect the body as an instrument for
spirit like these two.
By the indulgence of the nutritive as well as of the
reproductive function false cravings get ever stronger, and
the body becomes more and more engrossed, so that a
response to higher vibrations is made impossible.
Indulgence in evanescent physical pleasures is ever at the
cost of abiding spiritual joys.

GLANDS AND SECRETIONS

Certain glands are much influenced by thinking of the

conditions under which they are excited.

WONDROUS BEYOND human understanding are the

workings of the glands, the biochemical factories in living
bodies. Substances on which the body depends for its
development and sustenance are manufactured by the
glands from materials which they extract out of the mass
of heterogeneous food that is put into the stomach.
Left to themselves the glands perform their tasks
instinctively according to natures needs in a manner
which the most learned can neither understand nor
explain; their activity is backed by an intelligence that is
not equalled by the greatest intellect of man. As long as
not interfered with, the glands produce and contribute to
the processes of life just the kind of secretion that is
needed, just when and where it is needed. They do this in
response to messages originating in any part of the body
requiring their particular product. So well has natures
intelligence arranged it that these messages, upon arriving
at the gland, automatically stimulate it into accordant
action. Glands in general secrete only under the influence
of some special stimulation.
 Man has interfered with natures normal stimulations
and with the normal functioning of glands. With artificial
excitations he has forced some glands to serve his
pleasure. to work overtime, to overproduce secretions.
Especially has he overstimulated the glands that are
connected with nutrition and with sex particularly with
sex.
Modern physiology has emphasized the dual function
of the essential reproductive glands, the ovaries and the
testes. The ovaries are strictly analogous to the testes.
Both produce external secretions for the generation of
new bodies. And both testes and ovaries produce internal
secretions for the upbuilding and regeneration of ones
own body. These internal secretions play no part in the
sexual act and are never expelled, but always taken up by
the blood. While the external, is what might be called the
racial secretion, the internal is necessary for the
individuals welfare.
In regard to the internal secretions the cases of the two
sexes are, strictly parallel. Apart from giving rise to the
development of the secondary sexual characters they are
essential for physical and mental manhood and
womanhood. The testes secrete substances which pass
into the circulation and are of immense importance in the
development of the organism. These substances are the
internal secretions which also add enormously to a mans
magnetic and spiritual force. And in woman the ovaries
elaborate an internal secretion which is absorbed by the
system and which is necessary to the physical and
spiritual well-being of woman.
Modem science, recognizes in the internal secretion of
the sex glands the necessary factor for the right
functioning of the whole organism, and in its weakening
the cause of the deterioration of all other functions. Hence
there is no surer way to destroy existing manhood [or
womanhood] than such a course of life as deprives the
body of this internal secretion. Sexual activity has a
deleterious effect in this respect.
Unfortunately the individual has the power to use the
external or racial secretions for other than racial,
propagative purposes. The tragedy of this is that by every
act which disposes of some external secretion the
formation of the internal, is undoubtedly interfered with.
When compelled to produce more external secretions
than required for generation, the sex glands cannot supply
the normal amount of internal secretions for
regeneration.
The physical harm in the habitual overproduction [of
external secretion], seems to lie in the fact that it drains
from the blood nutriment which is needed for the
production of internal secretion. The best blood of the
body goes to form the ingredients for reproduction in both
sexes. The richest elements of that blood are used in the
distillation of the reproductive fluids. The more these
elements are extracted from the blood for the formation of
external, the less they are available for internal secretions
and for the essential processes which depend thereon. The
whole body suffers when these vital elements are wasted.
Not only every sexual act but all irritation of the sex
organs interferes with the formation of the internal
secretion. Hence not only every wasteful sexual
expression but also every irritating stimulation of the sex
impulse takes place at the cost of sell-regeneration,
mental and spiritual
as well as physical.
Even where the use of the external secretions is
limited to generation in harmony with natural law, the
formation of internal secretions is unfavorably affected.
This in itself makes reproduction a sacrificial act. In such
a case however the loss in spiritual potentialities is
compensated by the sacrificial element in the purely
generative act. But in every sexual expression which lacks
propagative intention there is naught but loss on the
 regenerative side — a greater and more irreparable loss
according to the frequency of the indulgence.
The prominent part played by the internal secretions
of the sex glands of both men and women in every phase
of individual development has been discovered only in
modern times. This new knowledge confirms the idea that
in order to make possible an advancement in evolution,
more and more of the life force must be taken away from
generative activity and turned into regenerative channels;
for it shows that this force, instead of being used for the
formation of the generative external, must be directed to
the production of the regenerative internal secretions of
the sex glands.
Since the production of those important secretions
depends on the well-functioning of the sex glands, it is
evidently essential to the physical, mental and spiritual
wellbeing of the individual that these glands are normally
developed. Where the glands are deficient there can be no
efficient internal secretions. This fact however has been
widely misunderstood and often willfully misinterpreted.
It is quite erroneous to think that the glands must prove
their normal efficiency in sexual expression, and that they
must be kept in condition by such activity. Quite to the
contrary — and as already emphasized in this chapter —
the right functioning of these glands for the benefit of the
individual is interfered with by every sexual act.
The best proof of the well-functioning of the sex
glands is to be found in as sound a physical body as other
prevailing factors will permit, in a clear idealistic mind,
and in a progressive spiritual growth of the individual.

A PHYSIOLOGICAL DILEMMA

The reabsorption of semen can scarcely be said to be a part of

the modern physiological doctrine.
IT is not the intention of this study to delve into
physiological details. But some facts have been so
misunderstood and twisted into motives for unwarranted
sexual acts, that it is unavoidable to speak about them if
current wrong impressions are to be counteracted.
Until a few years ago it was generally held that mans
body could absorb the external secretions produced by its
sex glands after these secretions had accumulated in the
vesicles. But the possibility of such absorption has now by
a few physiologists been doubted and by some denied.
Yet, one of the greatest modern authorities admits the
possibility of conditions under which the highly vital fluid,
is, partially at least, reabsorbed and acts as a tonic to the
entire system. Others too are still convinced that it is
feasible that the secretions, are reabsorbed, partly at least,
by the rich plexi of lymphates which surround the canals.
Apparently the question is not definitely settled. Most
likely the absorption is neither impossible, nor always
possible for the entire amount secreted. It seems that
anyhow in the continent person, the semen is partly
reabsorbed.
That there is repeated mention of only partial
absorption is not surprising. That nearly always whatever
absorption takes place, is less than what is produced is to
be ascribed to the circumstance that in almost every case
there is an unnatural overproduction which overtaxes the
capacity of whatever apparatus for absorption exists.
In present humanity the sex glands have a tendency to
form external secretions in larger quantities than are
needed for reproduction. Racial habits have denatured
these glands. They have long been artificially habituated
to produce external secretions steadily instead of only
when needed for propagation. They have been inured to
yield an unnatural overproduction, just as the lactic
glands of the dairy cow have been trained to yield an
abnormal overproduction.
 Under conditions of right thinking and right living the
seminal fluid would be produced only when there is a
demand for propagation. Formation of reproductive fluids
at times when there is no question of propagation is as
unnatural and abnormal as the formation of milk when
there is no question of motherhood.

Once formed, the accumulation of reproductive fluids

is apt to cause some discomfort, even strain. This tension
is usually mistaken for a manifestation of the reproductive
impulse. But almost without exception the formation of
the fluid by the sex glands results as little from the natural
reproductive impulse as the flow of saliva at the thought
or sight of a delicacy results from a natural hunger. Both
conditions are caused by artificial stimulation and undue
imagination. A man accustomed to abstinence will not
suffer from any accumulation of secretions, and the longer
the period of continence the less of the irritation and
discomfort will be felt.
The tension of the accumulated external secretion has
given rise to the view met with among the ignorant, that
this fluid Tight be noxious if allowed to accumulate. It is
regarded as an excretion to be got rid of like those of the
bladder and the intestines. This view of the supposed
necessity of expelling the reproductive fluid is supported
by the new theory of non-absorption. But everything
relevant that is known in biology and physiology indicates
that nothing could be more false and pernicious.
The external secretion of the sex glands is a vital fluid
representing far greater potentiality than the same
quantity of blood. It is not a waste material, and one
positively and directly gains by the absorption of that
secretion. This is evidenced by increased muscular action,
a diminished sense of fatigue and enhanced
recuperativeness. Undoubtedly the more the fluids are
retained in the body, the greater fulness of life, health and
power are experienced.
 Therefore under no circumstances apart from
propagation should the external secretion be expelled
voluntarily. If a surplus really should be removed, nature
will do so without any voluntary action of the person and
with a minimum loss of physical and psychic energy.
After all, it matters little whether absorption of the
reproductive fluids is possible or not. The
•
essential point concerns not the way in which
they are disposed of after being formed, but
their non-formation. If their formation is prevented
except in the service of propagation, absorption becomes
superfluous.
Of the greatest practical value is that the formation
and accumulation of these external secretions is
avoidable. Even the inherited tendency to their
overproduction can be overcome if it is not reinforced by
ever new excitations. The infallible way is to lessen the
erotic stimuli. As a result of this it becomes possible to
utilize the vital elements of the blood constantly for the
formation of the inner secretions, which enhance the
development of greater physical and mental and spiritual
power.

EROTIC DREAMS

Erotic dreams are influenced by erotic desire.

IN THE consciousness of man an important part is played

by what psychoanalysts have termed the censor.
Deeply implanted in mans nature there is the
determination not to be content with oneself as one is, but
somehow to be cleaner and higher; to suppress and
reduce to nothingness the sort of things that drag one
down, and to
- concentrate attention and effort on the higher parts of
ones being. The so-called censor may well be interpreted
as being an embodiment of that determination, that urge
to reach an ever higher evolutionary stage. He can also be
considered to be the impartial spectator, the judge within,
who is a personification of conscience, warning against
actions that are inconsistent with the stage which the
individual has reached. Thus the censor is the equivalent
of the good demon which every man has as a proper
keeper, to bring him to perfection.
Ultimately the censor represents spirit, albeit only a
negative, inhibiting aspect thereof. The power of the
censor depends upon how much of spirit can manifest
through a person. The more spiritual one becomes the
louder the censor warns against an ever wider range of
tendencies which must be outgrown. In effect the censor
acts as a guiding principle which can be developed as a
regulative, but which is easily obscured.
In many people the censor is indeed very easily
obscured. Especially often during sleep the censorship, is
removed. And even during the waking state old tendencies
frequently succeed in passing the censor to find
expression, if not in acts then in emotions and in thoughts
of a less desirable nature.
To a great extent the thoughts of the day shape the
dreams of the night. The waking thoughts and emotions
have a powerful and determining influence upon the
activities of the consciousness during the hours when the
physical body is asleep. In almost every dream certain
details are found which have their origin in the
impressions or thoughts, of one of the preceding days —
or sometimes in seemingly forgotten impressions of
longer ago.

What kind of dreams can one expect when, after

sensual stirrings have been admitted during waking
hours, censorship is removed during sleep? It is but
natural that then, the higher inhibitions gone, the lower
passions surge to the front in turbulent welter. And it is
no wonder that many of the phenomena of dreams, are
due to the sexual impulse.
Even in good men there is a latent wild-beast nature
which peers out in sleep; and perhaps in women too.
When the reasoning and ruling power is asleep, then the
wild beast in human nature. . . starts up and leaps about
and seeks to satisfy its desires? Then the serpent is, ever
fruitful in alluring dreams. Then it is that sexual
excitement entertained in a waking state . . induces
ejaculation during sleep.
The passive involuntary nocturnal orgasms
undoubtedly are less harmful than any passionate
voluntary mode of sexual expression. Once the sex glands
have formed an oversupply of external secretion — which
however should have been prevented — it is better to lose
this unconsciously during sleep than to cause its
expulsion in a conscious act. But in the majority of cases
the generative glands would not form such an excess of
secretion, if they were not overstimulated or overworked.
The fact that nocturnal losses are very general does not
mean that they are normal. On the contrary such
emissions are always more or less abnormal. Nor does it
mean that they are necessary. Health does not require
that there ever should be an emission. The less frequently
they occur the better. Always their frequency varies
according to. . . the degree in which the mind is directed
to sexual matters. One who stimulates the mind with
erotic fancies, will experience them with greater
frequency. But the more the mind while awake is occupied
with other than sexual matters, the less frequent the
excitements and emissions during sleep. They rarely occur
in those, who most nearly approach the standard of
perfect chastity. Some continent persons never have
nocturnal emissions.
 It is a mistake to believe that emissions during the
dream state cannot be controlled. The censor can be made
to function during sleep as well as during the waking
hours. In the dreamer there exists an unconscious
propensity to conceive his erotic experiences as guilty. He
is vaguely aware that emissions in sleep pollute. The
reluctance of the will even during sleep to consent to the
tendencies of the sexual system, strengthens the idea of
moral impurity in relation to the nocturnal pollution; it
also shows that the censor is not always entirely off duty.
A little exercise of the will can force him to remain alert
while one sleeps. With many people indeed the will power
becomes sufficiently awake to allow of their inhibiting the
pollution when on the point of occurring.
In order to prevent emissions during dreams, therefore,
exertion of will and control of thought are necessary.
Especially the last thought as one sinks into slumber has an
—influence out of all proportion of the time it occupies the
mind. When before going to sleep one has awakened-his
rational powers and fed them on noble thoughts. . . then
one is least likely to be the sport of fanciful visions. —
Thus can any one keep mind and body pure in the
dreaming as well as in the waking state, and thereby fill a
necessary requirement for spiritual evolution.

PERVERSION
Every expression of the sexual impulse that does not
correspond with nature’s purpose of propagation must be
regarded as perverse.
FROM THE point of view of nature the end and object of
the sexual impulse is procreation. Therefore every sexual
act not having in view the propagation of the species is
perverse. This is true whether the act be solitary or
mutual; whether heterosexual with intended
unproductive-ness, or homosexual; whether to be classed
as prostitution or as birth control; whether technically
labeled as inversion or as perversion; and whether the
tendency to such acts be congenital or acquired. None of
these acts have in view the perpetuation of the species,
and all are therefore perversions. From the sociological
point of view they may differ in degree of reprehensibility;
but from the spiritual standpoint they are all equally
objectionable and corrupt.
What some writers have said about specific sexual
aberrations may well be applied to all perversions of the
reproductive impulse. They are a sad pathological
acquisition of the human race, contrary to nature and, due
to unbridled lust. They are the negation of the higher
order of things, ethically reprehensible, and destructive of
everything noble and dignified in human nature. They
deprive the system at large of what might have become
general stimulation and vitality, and there is a
continuously greater strain upon the nervous system. In
their addicts self-control is being undermined, to such an
extent that the person who shows sex abnormalities is
potentially the most dangerous casual criminal. And
worse than any of these effects are those that appear in
the offspring, for acquired sexual perversion may be, an
irreducible vice in the next generation. In short, not only
from the unnatural loves of either sex, innumerable evils
have come, but from every sexual perversion in the widest
sense great evils have fallen upon individuals and upon
humanity.

It is true of every sexual perversion that the practice is

contrary to the ends of humanity; for the end of humanity
in respect to sexuality is to preserve the species without
debasing the person. All perverse sexual acts do just the
opposite: without preserving the species they debase the
person; they interfere with the possibility of the souls
normal development.
 Also, he who indulges in them. . . is the reverse of
happy. If humanity is ever to be capable of being raised to
a condition of true happiness, passions must diminish.
Pathological results of the most frequently occurring
forms of perversion have been so often overstated that
now even a conservative statement of the truth finds little
credence. But after all, the psychic effect, is even more
deleterious than the physical. Of any perversion the
effects on the higher qualities are not easily exaggerated.
Far more serious than any physical impairment, is the
impairment of the idealism and the nobility of life. The
finer endowments of man suffer graver lesions than do the
physical. Every perversion inevitably coarsens, mans
whole moral and spiritual fiber. It is, mere sense pleasure
bought at the cost of the higher life.
The modem way of looking upon perversion is to
extenuate and to condone it on the ground that it is often
the result of inborn tendencies, or of specific glandular
defects. On this same basis all crime, too, should then be
excused and tolerated; for undoubtedly the criminal as
well as the pervert in many cases descends from tainted
progenitors, or has deficient endocrines. To recognize this
may lead to a better understanding of their disordered
condition and to the discovery of means by which to help,
to correct, to cure them. It should also lead to ways of
eugenically preventing the birth of ever more congenital
criminals and perverts. But it does not mitigate the fact
that perversion and crime both are intolerable
abnormalities. Counteracting spiritual evolution, they
cause mankind's devolution. They must necessarily be
eliminated wherever the aim of society is evolutionary
progress.

SEXUAL NORMALCY
Man has deliberately taken the sexual appetite. away from its
natural, normal manifestation.

As A race we are oversexed. By habitual indulgence, by

cumulative heredity, by influence of surroundings, and by
seeking or submitting to stimulation, the human sexual
impulse has long since been developed to a state far
beyond its natural normalcy. The excessive sex urge in
man bears the stamp of, a compulsion which is unnatural.
Normal sexuality has been replaced by abnormal
sensuality.
The sex impulse is natural only as long as the
fundamental design of the sexual act — propagation is in
view. At the evolutionary stage which most of humanity
should have reached by now the biological urge is entirely
normal only when it drives mate to mate in a longing to
call forth another living being out of a union of the highest
that each is able to contribute. When the urge appears at
other times it is abnormal and ought to be considered
pathological. And at such other times to yield to the
biological is to betray the spiritual.
Normal human evolution calls for a steady ascent from
the stage of animal instinct to that of spiritual self-
consciousness and power. But the blinding glare of
oversexed-ness has drawn humanity to bide and settle
down in bypaths of evolution and to ignore the goal of the
ascent toward spiritual heights. Oversexedness is an
abnormal development which causes a delay, if not a
permanent break in evolutionary growth.
Yet so almost general a symptom has oversexedness
become that it is erroneously regarded as a normal,
natural condition. Where practice is so general, theory has
accommodated itself so far as to assume that sexual
intercourse is necessary and wholesome. Public opinion
on this point is misled by the peculiar quality of the
human body that it readily accustoms itself to whatever
habit it acquires, soon craves for it, and protests when the
demands of the habit are not regularly obeyed. Once
accustomed to alcohol or drugs or to sexual excitement a
body manifests discomfort when its craving for
gratification is not satisfied. This has led to the fallacy that
it is necessary and even healthy to supply the gratification
in order to remove the discomfort. But the normal,
natural way to eliminate the latter is to ignore it, and to
prevent its repetition by establishing a purer standard.
Not a single habit can constitute a necessity. Even where
the tendency to a habit is inborn it can be overcome,
provided the mind begins to see that the habit is
undesirable. The first requirement for sexual normalcy is,
therefore, a mental recognition that the present sexual
habits of the race are abnormal. Then the individual will
either avoid to become addicted or, if already an addict,
will gradually break away from those habits.
It should be clear to any one that the existence of a
sexual excitation, is not sufficient to prove that it is
normal. But in judging of matters relating to sexual
morality men have generally made little use of their
reason. Abnormal stimulation of the sexual function has
biased the discriminative faculty which is needed to
distinguish between natural and unnatural, between
normal and abnormal. The prejudiced opinion of many
who wish to justify their personal tendencies leads them
to scoff the purer normal standard and to decry this as
though it were abnormal and morbid. This mistaken
attitude is shared by many others who are misguided by
the thought that normalcy is measured by the condition of
a majority. But absolute normalcy does not consist in
what the majority may do or think or be. In the absolute
sense our oversexedness howsoever widespread it may be
is an abnormal symptom; it is as much a deviation from
normal sexuality as our general low rate of health is a
departure from normal well-being. Humanity has caused
its general lack of health as well as most of its other
 misery largely by its digression from natures normal
standards. Misery is natures protest against degeneration.
Every willful deviation from natures normalcy is therefore
followed by a severe and often painful reaction, even if
that result is not always immediately apparent. In present
humanity almost every one seems to prefer to remain
complacently in the hedonic state of oversexedness, and
to be indifferent to its deleterious results for the
individual and for the race. In the general tendency of
ready surrender to its dictates the imperiousness of the
sex impulse has been greatly overrated. But the sexual
appetite is not insuperable. With a little strength of
character and of will it is not very difficult to overcome the
abnormal drive of this urge. Only weaklings yield to
sexual impulses which the normally strong feel but
repress. After recognizing that sexual normalcy consists in
purity, people of high principles free themselves from the
grip of sex. Rising above all erotic influences and
conditions, they take up again the long interrupted ascent
toward the highest goal of human evolution: spiritual
unfoldment.

CONTINENCE
If one is gaited to idealism, continence should make powerful
appeal to him.

THREADED THROUGH all the pages of this book, even

where but faintly showing between the lines, is the ever
recurrent thought that the ideal sexual life is one of strict
continence.
Continence: the word is not used here loosely to denote
moderation, in which sense it is so often applied to the
very flexible moral standard of most people. By
continence is meant the voluntary and entire abstinence
from sexual indulgence in any form. Strict continence is
meant; absolute abstinence except for purposes of
propagation; abstinence not only from the gratification of
the impulse, but also from mental and tactile caresses and
from all abnormal practices. All such dalliance is not
abstinence. And because continence is not compatible
with sexual excitement of any kind, it must involve a
permanent abstention from indulgence in erotic
imaginations and voluptuous reverie and from any of the
factors which arouse the sexual passion.
Perfect sexual continence, as an ideal to be striven for,
cannot be dismissed as a mere monk-made superstition.
Even for the most materialistic purposes the value of
abstinence has been generally acknowledged. It has
always been a rule for athletes while training for contests
and prize events. This fact about athletes has been often
positively affirmed by the ancients; and strict abstinence
is still adhered to in our own days in the preparation of
participants for prizefights, league ball games and similar
sports. During the period of intensive training sexual
excitement is the one thing which is rigidly excluded.
Clearly it is considered worth while and possible even
for the most full-blooded and hard-muscled men to be
continent for a certain period for the sake of a chance to
win a prize in a competitive contest. It will be found to be
much more worth while, and just as possible, in the longer
period of training for the acquisition of the inestimable
prize of an expanded consciousness. This is the prize
which every one can win; for the feeling of control and
power produced by continence plays its part in the
production of spiritual insight. For spiritual results,
however, it must include an obliteration of all sexual
craving.
After an experimental period of an observance of
continence the next step will most naturally come in the
form of its permanent continuance. For it is only logical
that what is profitable for a time should be always all
practiced, that it may be always profitable.
Or shall one be willing only to abstain from what is
ordinarily deemed a pleasure for the sake of a victory in
wrestling and the like and, be incapable of a similar
abstinence for the sake of a much nobler victory which is
the noblest of all?

There are enough sexual stoics in the world to prove

by experience that continence is not only possible but also
practical. As every competent and responsible authority
asserts, it does no harm to the individual. No one was ever
yet in the slightest degree the worse for perfect
continence. Where other factors do not counteract its
salutary influence there is exuberance of health, life and
intelligence to be observed among chaste people.
The more continently one lives the better work one
can produce, because in body and in mind energy is
gained by the establishment of continence. It enlivens
perception. One who consistently lives the continent life,
wins a power of concentration that is unknown to one who
trifles with the sex impulses. Thus, for instance, the
abstinent scientist can devote more of his energy to study,
accomplishing greater results. And this applies
analogically to any profession, to any accomplishment.
Only those who have left the animal-man entirely behind
are able to do the best work in many spheres of life.
Hence for the most matter-of-fact reasons one can
follow no more excellent rule of life than to acquire
continence as the greatest wealth. And what makes this
rule of paramount value is that at the same time one can
save the spiritual store in the body by observing
continence.

THE NOTION OF NECESSITY

The idea still prevails, because it fits in with inclination.
FOR HUMANITY as a group a sexual necessity exists only
in so far as the integrity of the race is concerned. But there
is no necessity of everybody's sharing in the task of
continuing the race.
For the individual the idea of biological [sexual]
necessity is so obviously coupled with selfish interests as
to give it the quality of a special bias. It rose from the
excuses made by those whose lust controlled them. It is
misleadingly supported by some sexologists who would
build a norm for normal people on the basis of their
abnormal cases. And it is almost ineradicable because
men, will accept any doctrine that flatters their desires.
In reality so-called physical relief is never necessary.
The tradition of sex necessity is a dangerous lie,
particularly as it is founded on the false assumption that
cohabitation is essential to health. This pitiable argument,
is a pure sophism. It is a singularly false notion, that mans
vitality is weakened unless he has indulgence. Statements
by eminent physicians flatly contradict this assumption.
The sexual functions may remain unused without any
injury to health.° And this applies not only, as some might
think, to people of low vitality or little virility; also a
strong person can live and live well, without any
indulgence of the sex tendency. Therefore entirely refuted
must be the lie that continence is dangerous to health, for
the opposite is true. Continence is one of the conditions
essential to the attainment and maintenance of the
highest degree of physical and mental vigor.
There is no physiological basis for, the irresponsible
assertion that sexual intercourse is essential for the
maintenance of the healthy metabolisms of the normal
organism. It is but a pernicious pseudo-physiology which
teaches that the exercise of the generative functions is
necessary in order to maintain physical and mental vigor.
Science cannot subscribe to this — the less so when
considering that in addition there is no adequate evidence
that there is any intrinsic psychological necessity for sex
indulgence either in men or women. Such necessity is
disproven by experience and is condemned by the best
medical authorities throughout the world. Under no
circumstances can unchastity be either necessary or
justifiable.
After all the question as to the necessity of sexual filter-
course, has wider bearings than in relation to health.
Overlooked and denied as it may be by many, there is in
human existence something of far greater value than the
physical body, and than desire, and than intellect. The
well-being and the growth of the spiritual element is the
most important factor. And spiritual well-being depends
upon normalization and purification of all the elements of
individual existence.
As already brought out in various preceding chapters,
every yielding to the sexual impulse other than for
propagation, deters from spiritual attainment which is of
paramount value for evolutionary progress.

VIRILITY
Sexual intercourse is not essential to the preservation of
virility.

IT HAS been claimed that continence leads to impotence.

But against this biased popular superstition many
distinguished medical writers maintain, that abstinence
from sexual intercourse cannot be reckoned as a cause of
impotence. A large group of the foremost medical
authorities has endorsed a declaration that continence has
not been shown to be detrimental to, virility. Another
medical group has declared that the sexual power is never
lost through abstinence from cohabitation, any more than
the ability to weep is lost through abstinence from
weeping.
This last statement hits the basic fallacy in the idea
that sex organs need exercise. For the essential organs of
generation are not muscles but glands. And, unlike
muscles, glands require no exercise — certainly no
volitional exercise by their possessor — in order to keep
the power to function when nature requires it. Hence the
function of the sexual apparatus may be held in abeyance,
without producing physical injury. Even after very long
periods of abstinence that apparatus can be sound and
capable of being roused into activity.
If impotence exists after long abstinence it is not to be
ascribed to the abstinence but to, preoccupation with
sexual questions, overstimulation of the sexual disposition
and the like, because these irritate and thereby weaken
the organs. A continent life, accompanied by a normal
mental outlook, never yet resulted in impotence.
Therefore, above all, normal people, . may all practice
continence for many years or indefinitely without any loss
of sexual power. There is no loss of power, provided one
does not keep the genital organs irritated, be it by sensory
or by mental stimuli.
Atrophy caused by sexual abstinence, remains
scientifically unproven. In fact, it may be affirmed that no
amount of continence ever caused atrophy. Surely no
continent person need be deterred from leading a chaste
life by the apocryphal fear of atrophy.
What is likely to become apparent after a period of
strict continence is a normalization of what had been an
abnormally overstimulated, sensualized virility. In this
sense it is true that the sexual appetite, diminishes with
abstinence — but not the latent virile power.
If abstinence be rigidly adhered to, the desire
materially diminishes and a condition of sexual
indifference ensues. This is perfectly normal. Its result is
that a previously existing unwholesome virility is apt to be
reduced to a normal ability to propagate without sensual
desire. Far from being detrimental, this normalization of
the sexuality can only be beneficial to a wholesome virility
and salutary to body and to spirit.

HEALTH AND DISEASE DISEASE

is the disharmony which follows disobedience to

natures laws; it is a scourge to drive us back into
obedience to her laws. Every indulgence of the senses
contrary to natures purposes produces discord between
man and nature. Whether the indulgence consists in
eating except for self-preservation, or in sexual expression
except for racial preservation — it is bound to result in the
disharmony that eventually becomes manifest in the form
of disease. Each passion in man, is capable of producing
disease. But especially the misuse of the reproductive
function is the underlying cause of much sickness,
because the lower pelvic region, is capable of deranging
every bodily organ. There is no one function which, if
disturbed, leads so certainly to general ill-feeling or to
physical disorders, even though these often do not arise
until much later. It is almost true that its misuse, is the
cause of all misery and disease.
Every use of the sexual function beyond intended race-
preservation constitutes a misuse, an excess. And excess,
brings on disease, misery, suffering, mental and physical.
Specialists agree, that the aggregate evils arising from
excesses of this kind are greater than those arising from
excesses of all other kinds put together.
It is largely through the abuse of the sex force that
man is more diseased, than any animal. Free from mans
influence animals do not indulge in sexual congress
except in the season of rut. The sexes become neutralized
during the rest of the year. Thus their natural vitality is
greatly conserved and intensified in their seed. But mans
abuse of the sex force has gradually affected most of the
human seed, of the valuable germ-plasm, as a result of
which mankind becomes with every century, more
dwarfed and weakened. By sexual self-gratification man
has become, a helpless, scrofulous being and, the
wealthiest heir to constitutional and hereditary diseases.
Through physical indulgence the human race is afflicted
with puny and precarious healths and early deaths.
The flesh of man is corrupt because by unwise
cohabitation he has corrupted his race. Illness, is his fate
while his immortal spirit languishes in the bonds of sense.
Continence would be of the greatest help in humanity's
struggle against illness, because in the continent person
the undiminished internal secretions of the sex glands are
better able to fulfill their task of keeping the system
immune to infections. Or where infection is already active
in the body these secretions can the more effectively
combat the disease-producing toxins and prevent a
serious outbreak. And should actual disease be
insuppressible and take its course as a result from
overruling causes, then a continent life shall have enabled
the patient to save up force which, greatly assists in the
recuperative powers.
Of course, those who abstain from indulgence cannot
immediately be vigorous and entirely free from ills. But
when there are pathological symptoms in one who
abstains from sexual acts there certainly is an other cause
than continence for conditions of ill-health. Entirely
unfounded and unfair is the popular tendency to ascribe
to continence whatever ails a continent person.
However, sometimes a diseased condition is caused in
one who is outwardly continent by what night well be
called an unchaste continence. When physical continence
is not combined with chastity in thoughts, there can be no
harmony, no balance in the body — hence no health. To be
thoroughly effective the continence must be positively
willed and supported from within, not but negatively and
grudgingly accepted from outer compelling
circumstances. Supported by inward purity, continence
will lead unfailingly to greater strength and better health
than would be attainable otherwise.
Health depends on too many different factors to be
permanently secured by continence alone. Heredity sets
up its limitations. Unwholesome habits have a lasting
influence. Overwork and worry frequently interfere. Often
fatal to physical well-being are dietetic errors — and
hardly any one knows how to avoid these. And sometimes
health is disturbed when a person is developing spiritually
while neglecting to give sufficient attention to a
proportionate purification and spiritualization of the
body; or while failing to consider that the body, as it
becomes a more delicate instrument, requires different
and greater care than before.
But whatever the momentarily disturbing factors,
always in the direction of purity lie health and vitality.

VENEREAL DISEASES

ON DEGENERATED humanity venereal disease is a mark

of moral deficiency. It is an affliction, self attracted by
recklessly playing with the fire of life. Wherever this game
is played it exposes the players to the scourge of sexual
disease.
Due to the popularity of the perilous sexual game
diseases of the sexual function are more widespread and
cause greater misery and suffering than any other disease
of the human body, barring none. Those diseases are so
prevalent because it is practically impossible to avoid
venereal infection when having illicit intercourse,
especially if this goes together as it usually does with
promiscuousness. Wherever promiscuity, increases, there
venereal disease will certainly increase also.
The incontestable argument against controlled and
unrestricted sexual expression remains that promiscuous
indulgence is sure, sooner or later, to bring infection by
one or both of the venereal diseases, gonorrhea and
syphilis. These two are the infections which are so
commonly associated with the unwise exercise of the
racial impulse. They have been responsible for much of
the misery in the world, and for vast suffering in the
innocent as well as in those who incur the direct results of
their own conduct.T Many physicians know that the
majority of diseases peculiar to women have their origin
in a microscopic organism which men harbor, and which
is the relic of an infection that has perhaps even been
forgotten.There is no warrant for ordinary students
wading into the pathology of the subject, The less
pathology we read the better. All such descriptions, as well
as those of anatomical and physiological details, may
satisfy a prurient curiosity; but they have a tendency to
stir up morbidity and eroticism, and can rarely serve any
edifying purpose.
Yet every one should know that venereal diseases are
exceedingly grave. Every person should know something
about the terrible consequences of both gonorrhea and
syphilis and the relationship of these diseases to incurable
conditions of many vital organs. It is now established, that
gonorrheal infection results in numberless cases in
complications. The whole organism may be involved. It
has also been found that syphilis, predisposes the
organism to the attacks of other diseases. It may become
the cause of all maladies with which humanity is afflicted,
and these often become the immediate cause of death, be
it years after the venereal infection when there is no
thought of connecting the new symptoms with their true
origin. Thus, indirectly, syphilis, actually causes more
deaths than any other infection.
 Moreover, what makes syphilis so exceedingly serious in
its consequences is the fact that it is capable of reacting
harmfully on subsequent generations. It may destroy the
health and the very existence of the unborn children. It is a
cause of the degeneration of the race.° And gonorrhea,
while not directly inheritable as such, is one of the most
formidable and far-reaching infections by which the human
race is attacked. Indirectly it is apt to cause serious infantile
infections. Some high medical authorities regard gonorrhea
as even more serious in its social consequences than
syphilis. The insidious nature and destructive virulence of
venereal diseases should be more widely known in order to
offset the heedless way in which they are generally
regarded.
They are difficult to cure from the first, and almost
impossible when thoroughly lodged in the system. When
the outer symptoms have been suppressed the disease
often settles down into a latent and dormant condition,
and years afterwards the poison will break out. Usually
quite costly are the few fleeting moments of sexual
gratification — heavy and enduring the penalty to be paid.
All protective devices, both mechanical and medicinal,
have failed to insure safety from the venereal diseases. No
method of absolutely insuring against infection has been
discovered except one: continence, would solve the
problem.
Venereal disease is now so widespread that even for
prudential reasons purity should be observed by old and
young.
Though fear is not a noble reason for abstaining from
the yielding to an impulse or a passion, it is better to
abstain on account of fear than not to abstain at all. Better
let fear of punishment detain from murder and from theft
than to yield to an inclination to such actions. Better let
continence be motivated by a fear for venereal diseases
than to have one yield to sexual passion which is bound to
lead to misery for self and for others.
Of course, one who is only as good as fear will make
him is not very good. One must have higher motives to
impel to self-control. Chastity must have a far more solid
foundation than fear. Higher than fear for dreadful
physical results is prudence. Higher than prudence is the
ethical consideration of not wanting to cause hurt to
others. Higher than ethics is the spiritual motive of
wanting to aid evolution, and not to set up new causes for
ever more misery.
Whatever motive may lead up to it, the only
satisfactory method of avoiding venereal disease is to live
a clean life. And that one method is open to all.

NEUROSES
There is no evidence that continence, produces any neurotic
symptoms.

IN MANY and sundry ways modern civilization, increases

the irritation of the nervous system. It overstimulates
every personal element of human nature. As a result
neurotics represent a very large proportion of humanity.
And their number seems to be rapidly increasing.
Considering that above all else the sexual nature is
being overstimulated, so that an increasing majority of
mankind is oversexed and ever less continent — may not
the growing percentage of neurotics have some special
connection with the increased neglect of chastity? Under
the spreading influence of misleading sophistries there is
less and less of what in popular speech is called
repression, more and more of expression of sex. Is it then
not more likely that the increase of cases of neurosis is
caused by undue sex expression, whether in thought or
act, rather than by so-called repression?
Yet, psychoanalysts, are inclined to trace to sex
repression most of the nervous and mental disorders.
However, what the psychoanalyst means when he says
that psycho-neuroses are due to repression is something
very different from saying that they are due to sexual
restraint. Not understanding the psychoanalytical theory,
the lay public has transposed it into the fallacy that
restraint or continence tends to produce neurosis; and
this has been taken to support the erroneous notion that
sex expression is generally advisable and even necessary.
But the opinion which on pseudo-psychological
grounds suggests or permits incontinence is absolutely
false, It rests on misinterpretations, always biased and
often de-liberate. According to this idea the one who
allows his impulses an unbridled expression should be
proof against neurosis. But daily experience shows that he
may be as neurotic as others. In fact, there are more
victims of neurasthenia among those who give free rein to
their sensuality than among those who, know how to
escape the yoke of mere animalism. And this is to be
expected since a weakness of will with regard to sexual
temptations makes one less capable of resisting, nervous
disturbances.
Refuting the idea that abstinence has a deleterious
effect on the nervous system is the conspicuous fact that
there are men and women whose daily experience proves
that it is possible for even highly sexed individuals to
remain continent, without any abnormal psychological
effects.
Some of the most prominent neurologists, do not
believe that continence leads to nervous disease.
Physiology and pathology clearly show that the base of
the trunk, when it has undue influence on life, works the
destruction of the whole nervous system. An abnormal
condition of irritability and disorder of the sex organs
causes nervous derangement. But the strictly continent
suffer little or none of that irritability, and such disorder is
practically unknown to them.
Where neurotic conditions are observed in continent
persons it is not the continence which is responsible.
Usually the patients, have become neurasthenics for
entirely different reasons, such as primary disposition,
mental over-exertion, etc. However, neurasthenia can
occur when there is antagonism between impurity of the
thoughts and purity of the body; but that would not be a
case of true chastity. Any one who notwithstanding
physical abstinence persistently indulges his sex fantasies,
must expect to be the victim of, psychological distress; for
wherever conditions arise which specially stimulate the
sexual emotions, neurasthenia may be produced. In such
a case the real harm, comes not from the restraint of sex
desires but from, artificial stimulation beyond the means
of healthy control. Hence what is to be avoided is mental
and other overstimulation of the sex impulse.
Since continence itself never produces neurosis, there
is no foundation for the warnings against continence
which are now not only surreptitiously but often brazenly
disseminated.
In healthy and not hereditarily neuropathic people
complete abstinence is possible without injury to the
nervous system.
However, it may be true that in individuals of
neuropathic predisposition enforced abstinence may give
rise to danger of nervous and mental diseases, and that the
more one is predisposed to neurosis the harder is sexual
abstinence. But since the neurotically predisposed should
particularly guard against every avoidable loss of nervous
energy, the practice of continence is especially advisable
for them. For the continent person avoids all loss of
nervous energy incidental to sexual excitement. Every
waste of sexual power in either sex, lowers the nervous
tone of the entire system. Considerably so, because the
nervous shock accompanying the exercise of the sexual
organs, is the most profound of all to which the system is
subject. And especially those who seek variations from the
normal method, stamp their nervous systems with a
malign influence. Therefore, to save nervous energy one
should be strictly continent. For some — especially for
those habituated to sexual acts — this may seem difficult.
But it is well worth while to make the effort, because as a
result of sexual abstinence one may acquire, a firmness of
character which will place one beyond the reach of nerve-
disturbing ..„influences. The strength of will demonstrated
and fortified in the process of mastering the sexual
impulse, is in itself -a protection against neuroses.

MEDICAL ADVICE
The real continent individuals, do not require medical help.

SEX IN its pathological expressions, in its disturbances

and diseases which need to be cured, is intrinsically a
matter for expert medical attention. But since there is no
pathology in continence, the subject of continence does
not belong specifically to medical science. Therefore
medical opinion on this subject need not carry more
weight than serious lay opinion.
The medical profession is made up of just as many
kinds of people as any other group. For this reason a
unanimous support of the ideal of continence can at no
time be expected from their side any more than from
other large groups of men. As in other humans, so in
physicians exists the danger to let personal inclination
bias personal opinion; and this tendency is always
particularly strong in regard to sexual behavior, in which
almost every person wants to find justification for his own
standard. Moreover, the medical practitioners constant
dealing with unreproductive and abnormal sex expression
of patients is apt to obscure his vision of its ideal
manifestation. And the modern materialistic trend, with
its sophistical excuses for unrestrained sexual expression,
has affected the ideas on this subject within the ranks of
the medical profession as much as amongst laymen. On
account of this, definite medical statements in support of
sexual purity have become scarcer as the years passed by.
But even if not a single medicus ever had expressed
himself in favor of continence, the ideal would not be
affected. Too many arguments apart from medical advice
support its adequacy and its evolutionary indispensability.
Even if the whole medical faculty had united in
attacking the advisability and the feasibility of the ideal
from a physical standpoint, its absolute value would still
remain intact. For there is something in sexual purity that
is supraphysical, something that remains inviolate and
tin-shaken even though its physical defenses should be
shattered. The spiritual value of the ideal is impervious to
physical attacks.
Be it then that medical opinion for or against
continence is not necessarily conclusive, it is yet gratifying
to find that many medici, including some of the leaders in
the sexological field, have published unequivocal
statements in support of continence.
As already demonstrated by quotations in preceding
chapters, reputable physicians and physiologists unite in
advocating a chaste and continent life, simply for the sake
of ones health, independently of all other considerations.
Scores of medical writers have already been quoted; and
the science of a thousand others, has affirmed that
abstinence has never caused any disturbance to health.
The American Medical Association has repeatedly
repudiated the false doctrine that sexual continence is
incompatible with health. A large English medical group
has stated that there is no definite evidence to prove that
continence in either sex results in any harmful effect upon
the normal physiological activities of the organism.
Outstanding specialists have declared that with all the
opportunity of long experience they have no knowledge of
any harm resulting from a pure and moral life; have never
found a man suffering from keeping himself pure; have
never observed a single instance of atrophy of the
generative organs from this cause; have never seen
diseases produced by chastity, and are without proof of
their existence.
Everywhere in the medical profession there always
have been strong supporters of the view that the yielding
to desire is no more to be justified upon physiological or
physical than upon moral or religious grounds, and that
the control of the sexual desire, is necessary from the
hygienic standpoint. The majority of medical authorities
maintain that man can always retain control over the sex
urge. Should the urge become annoying, the best medical
advice would still be that the real remedy for sexual
distress is to remain continent. A pure life is best under all
circumstances.
Just as the opposite opinion can not be accepted as
final because it has been subscribed to by some
physicians, so the view entertained by the most advanced
medical authorities about the benefits of continence does
not have to be accepted on the word of any of them, It is a
matter capable of individual proof. And an individual
effort to obtain this proof will readily demonstrate that
the subjugation of the sexual impulse, develops all that is
best and noblest, and that the control of this force seems
to contribute definitely, to intellectual growth and to
spiritual development.

POPULAR OPINION
Young people are led astray, neither by temperament nor by
the senses but by popular opinion.

THE COLORLESS expression of immature minds which

are deluded by warped echos of half-truths — thats
popular opinion. It covers the earth as though with a layer
of viscid paste which glues most of humanity down to a
common, very common level. Devoid of depth, despoiled
of elevation, it is in one word shallow.
Whoever pulls himself loose from the confining
adherence to popular opinion and rises morally and
spiritually above the surrounding group, is scoffed and
ridiculed. This has always been the fate of those who
aspired to realities within instead of reaching like most of
the others for unrealities without. Always the wisdom
lover is rebuked by the many as though he were beside
himself. Always men are attacked for seeking perfection.
And if they try to tell the others that greater things can be
acquired by a renouncing of the lesser, theyre hated and
despised. Always men seek to vilify, whoever teaches them
to discipline the senses in order that their higher nature
may appear, and he escapes with rare good fortune if his
chastity or his virility is not assailed.
What else can be expected when the mass of men, are
so prone to lust that they cannot delight in any pleasure
save such as they receive from bodily sensations. In the
world in which we live, when one is seen rejecting these
physical sensations for the sake of spiritual realization, it
is the usual thing that the rest are of opinion that to him
who has no part in bodily pleasure life is not worth living.
However, in matters where strong desires and lusts
are concerned the majority, is usually wrong. In their
opinion on such matters most people are misled by their
own sensual attractions. And turning all their thoughts
and desires towards transitory things, they know nothing
 of the inner life, which the one who separates himself
from the masses strives to reach.
The majority, limited in vision to material interests,
cannot possibly understand spiritual motives. Neither the
spiritual man nor spiritual things can be judged by the
carnal mind, which shapes the fallacies of popular
opinion. But as it is not for those to speak of graceful
forms of the material world who have never seen them, so
those should be silent, who have never known the face of
Moral Wisdom, beautiful beyond the beauty of evening
and of dawn.
Those who have had a glimpse of spiritual beauty will
agree that it is the province only of the stupid to pay
attention to the opinion of the multitude. For when, either
from mental lassitude or in order not to be unpopular, one
lets himself be held back by popular opinion from
climbing spiritual heights, one never gets above the
common plains.
Of course it is much easier to go with the majority than
to climb, painfully and slowly, to the heights of isolation,
which have remained free from the profaning influence of
the multitudes. Yet it is only on these heights that one can
enjoy a wider outlook, breathe purer air, hear whisperings
of spirit and conceive its wisdom.

ASCETICISM
My highest respect to the ascetic ideal in so far as it is honest?

IN AN unspoiled state, and again in a purified state, man

is naturally ascetic in the sense of being abstemious, of
leaving off whatever only serves to satisfy unnaturally
stimulated, desire-created cravings. In the unspoiled such
cravings do not yet exist, in the purified they have been
overcome.
 Between these two evolutionary conditions lies the
intermediate one in which most of humanity now finds
itself. By misusing the mind to overstimulate the body-
impulses man has abandoned the primitive, more
innocent state. By clinging to sense-gratification he
hinders his attainment of the higher, spiritualized
condition.
In the present deadlock of human evolution mankind
chooses ignorantly or stubbornly to follow the dictates of
bodily desires. Those however who are anxious to hasten
evolution must inevitably free themselves from the
domination of such desires; and for this purpose the need
of ascetic exercises — more or less drastic and rigid
according to ones individual propensities — is undeniable.
In many ways asceticism and chastity, are useful
means to desirable ends. An ascetic element is inseparable
from all morality. It is an absolutely indispensable means
for the attainment of moral freedom, especially in the
sphere of sex. For only asceticism can free us from the
yoke of our passions, and lead us to the highest goal of
morality. But also those who want to conquer real
knowledge have to, submit themselves to a kind of
asceticism. Through regular exercise the mind must be
freed from the influence of the senses in order to be able
to function to its fullest capacity. In every way asceticism,
leads to a fuller life. And finally by means of ascetic
observances man becomes, a spiritual being. In no other
way can those racial habits which render the body
unserviceable as an organ of the spirit be overcome.
The real purpose of asceticism is to remove the noxious
weeds of physical indulgence in order to make room for
valuable spiritual growth. So considered the ascetic ideal
has an element of eternal truth without which life can
have no true culture. For first of all asceticism is a
discipline in self-control, It helps to fortify the character
and the wilL It is a discipline of mind and body to fit men
for the service of an ideal. Its purpose is to harden as well
as to purify, to secure control over the appetites, and to
bring the body into subjection to the will.
It is unfortunate that many a fanatical ascetic has
specialized in exaggerated, morbid and repellent
austerities, as though one could acquire a spiritual asset
by outdoing others in self-torture, or as though
preparatory exercises themselves constituted the sought-
for end!
Such ascetically extremists may well have succeeded by
inflicting any smart to overthrow the strongest passion by
the most violent pain, on the same principle that is
applied in the modern medical method of counter-
irritation. But by so cruelly crushing the lower side of life
they frequently have crippled the physical body which,
after all, is the vehicle through which mans higher
faculties also must find expression.
Apart from this unwarranted application of ascetic
principles there is a sane and civilized asceticism which
presents a quite different face. It holds that the ascetic is
not he who punishes the body but who purifies the sour,
at the same time that he disciplines and refines the body
to bring it into vibratory harmony with spirit. This
moderate and sensible asceticism emphasizes that its self-
denying practices are only a contributory factor in
inducing a spiritual result, and that they must be
combined with the practical exercise of spiritual qualities.
The sane ascetic strives to coordinate his personality, to
unify his powers, by subordinating the lower to the
higher; and where he represses it is with a view to
development and enrichment.
Indeed, the creed of the ascetic, has a real and vital
meaning. His voluntary celibacy and abstinence place at
his disposal all that force which would be discharged by a
man of the world, in domestic affection and in worldly
pleasures and excitements.
 If evolution is to proceed without an interrupting
retrogression, asceticism, will have to be recognized as a
basic thing in human nature — even though in many it be
deeply buried under layers of sense-feeding soil.
In the ascetic movements, there was an equally
vital and important truth, which will have to be
rehabilitated. That truth involves the fact that
spiritual power can not manifest where there is
moral weakness; and that whatever is given to the
body is taken from the spirit. Hence the principle
of true asceticism is the principle of spiritual self-
preservation.

THE MODERN ASCETIC

Our day has created a new ascetic type, one finds him almost
everywhere.

THE modern ascetic

Not an emaciated sitter-under-a-tree is he, as so many

of his Oriental brothers. He is neither dolorously pious
like the early Christian or the standardized medieval type,
nor long-faced and gloomy like the Puritan blue-lawmaker
is commonly represented to be. He is not mirthlessly
narrow-minded, not solemnly condemning, not
unctuously upbraiding others with a self-satisfied sham of
superiority. Nor is he trying to force his ways or his
convictions on his fellowmen.
On the contrary, he is a cheerful, radiant person, happy
in the spiritual felicity that is his; unostentatiously and
unassumingly going his way; strict for himself in trying to
apply the spiritual principles in every-day existence, while
broadmindedly understanding that others, from different
standpoints, will view things differently. Seeing as he does
in savage and sage a manifestation of the All, he feels in
spirit oneness with all.
People may call him meek because he is not aggressive,
nor self-assertive, nor greedy, and became in his
recognition of the one life in whatever physical form it
may manifest he is no fighter, no killer, and will even
choose rather to be strong in soul than in body. His
meekness is not a sign of weakness: it is the expression of
positive spiritual strength.
Life might be easier for him if he went into solitude.
But permanent solitude befits either the weaklings who
seek protection against the hurts and hazards of worldly
trials and temptations, or it belongs to those who have
grown spiritually so strong as not to need the stimulating
whip of worldly dilemmas any more. It is just for
developing this strength in regular exercise and against
unremitting opposition that the modern ascetic is living in
the midst of a materialistic world.
Instead of living solitarily he seeks solidarity. He tries
in a way to lead the monastic life while remaining in the
world, seeking not to detach himself from his fellowmen,
but only from earthly gratification. He attempts not to
escape but to conquer all those forces which are
antithetical to his growing spiritual strength. He is a man
in the world, but he, will raise himself entirely above it.
When such a one after many struggles with his own
nature has finally conquered, he looks on the delusions of
the world smiling and at rest.
The modern ascetic seeks to approach an ideal. And
whatever would deflect him from that ideal, whatever he
recognizes as an obstacle between himself and the ideal,
he unhesitatingly discards. Training his body as an
instrument for spirit he is truly an ascetic, realizing that
asceticism is the necessary ante-chamber to spiritual
perfection. While in that ante-chamber, he has to drop the
non-essentials before he can be admitted into the
sanctum.
He knows that the senses, more than aught else, try to
delude and draw him into potentially obstructive interests
and actions; therefore he sedulously refrains from active
part in all that would tend to reinforce the possible
remnant of a sensual element in his nature. He is one in
whom the better consciousness is so continuously active
that it, never allows his passions to get a hold of him. In
most cases he does not beget children of his own flesh, but
brings to birth the children of his spirit — be it sometimes
in no more visible form than that of elevating thoughts.
The more clearly the outline of the ideal rises before
him, the more readily does all sense and specially sex-
allurement lose its attraction for him. Many people, failing
to recognize the joy of ascendancy of the ascetic, think
that he is painfully sacrificing what they hold to be life's
pleasures. But they do not know that clean strong feeling
of freedom which surges over him when he has resisted
the lure of some bodily appetite.° He does not really have
to sacrifice anything, for true asceticism consists in giving
up that which one does not want — and this certainly
excludes any idea of sacrifice. Eventually, when nothing
remains in him that can respond to lower vibrations, all
temptation naturally falls away from him.
No, not a suffering martyr is the modern ascetic! He
has discovered the possibility of attainment of some
superior felicity, unattainable except through sexual
continence. And that felicity, unknown to any seeker after
sensual pleasure, is partly his already.

PERFECT CELIBACY
The world over, celibacy is the key, to the higher spheres of
life.
HIGHER THAN the most continent life, which perchance
still shares in the propagation of the race, is perfect
celibacy. It lies above the realm of sex, and beyond the
reach of all sensual influences. The attainment of the
loftiest condition of existence has at all times and by all
races been sought through celibacy.
The nominal celibacy of those who just happen to
remain unmarried or of others who are celibates under
compulsion without inner conviction — that of course is
not sufficient for high spiritual results. True and perfect
celibacy is required, such as those who for selfish reasons
or entirely against their wishes remain single hardly ever
all practice, even if they do abstain from intercourse and
other sexual acts. Perfect celibacy is also far from those
who abstain on account of fear, or because of impotence
or other pathological conditions. In these cases abstinence
is no better than that of eunuchs, a mere privation,
without excellency.
Mere abstinence from physical sexual acts does not
establish perfect celibacy. Not until the mind itself is freed
from sexual disturbances and longings — not until
celibacy is the expression of the striving after an ideal
states, or is self-willed and freely chosen for the sake of a
lofty purpose — can there be a question of perfect
celibacy.
The real test of the efficacy of celibacy must be whether
or not the celibate actually overcomes not merely physical
impulse but all consciousness of sex differences. No one
considers it unnatural to rise above these differences in
intellectual contacts. In spiritual companionship — and
generally at an advanced evolutionary stage — it is even
more essential to have risen entirely above every
attraction of sex. In a few cases the soul does not
consciously have to choose or will to free itself, but seems
to be born free from sex attraction, free from sensual
tendencies, with a natural inclination towards the perfect
celibate life. This stage of spiritual-evolutionary growth
has not only been demonstrated in the prominent but
exceptional examples of saint and saviorship; it is also
frequently found in inconspicuous persons who, in
whatever circumstances they are placed, are radiating
centers of purity.
The hypothesis that the incarnating soul has pre-
existed, and has evolved by its own efforts in other lives,
is probably the only one that can explain how in every
instance, even when inborn, perfect celibacy, is a result of
the victory of the spirit over the body.

RACE SUICIDE
The idea that the teaching of sexual abstinence, may
prematurely stop the propagation of the human race is
absurd.

LET SOME one hint at the necessity of our curbing our

passions, and immediately the cry is raised that the
human race is in danger. As if any one, in surrendering to
the desire of the flesh, had ever thought of safeguarding
thereby the future of humanity ! And as though those who
indulge in sex do not intentionally prevent issue most of
the time!
But there need be no fear. Nature takes pretty good
care, of her racial purposes. So long as the succession of
generations is necessary for the development of the
human species the taste for bringing that succession
about will certainly not disappear in man — that is, not in
all men.
The ideal of purification of the sexual life holds not the
slightest danger for the continuation of the race. For this
ideal, as applicable to the majority of mankind, is not that
reproduction should be stopped, but that sex should be
used for reproduction only. This certainly does not entail
race suicide! It does not threaten the existence of the race,
but only that of animal-man; and in the course of
evolution he will have to disappear, just as the prehistoric
animals have been extinguished. In the records of the
future spiritual human race the present animal-man will
only vaguely be remembered as a kind of semi-human
animal which long before that time shall have passed out
of existence.
No danger is entailed by the fact that always there are a
few who, in dedication to spiritual ends, wish to and can
entirely rise above animality and above sex. For these the
ideal transcends the boundaries of sex and excludes their
sharing in the propagation of the race. But as long as they
are few they do not in the least endanger the existence of
humanity; for it is never requisite that every one shall
breed, as little as that all need till the soil in order to feed
the race.
A danger might be seen in the far-off possibility that
those who entirely abstain from sex become so numerous
as to form the great majority.
If perfect celibacy were chosen by the many for the
sake of spiritual evolution, this would indicate that the
larger portion of the race had reached a stage above that
of animal-man. Should nature find that it was then
becoming unpractical to continue the human species by
the sexual method, she can be trusted to institute a new
reproductive system in which sex plays no part. Thus the
moment when all men will finally overcome the fleshly
lust and become entirely chaste, will be the end of the
historical process — not necessarily the end of the human
race.
It may well be, however, that attainment of the fully
spiritualized stage will bring mankind to the point where
it can step out of the human into a higher evolutionary
kingdom. That would bring about the end of humanity as
such. Not by suicide, but by what may be called its natural
 death — death in the same sense as graduation from
school may be called the death of the pupil who thereafter,
in a higher institution of learning, becomes a student.
Suicidal to the race is the customary abuse of sex,
because it threatens humanity with an untimely death
from self-inflicted diseases. If mankind adheres to its
present sexual behavior it is likely, to perish by the
various vicious abuses and excesses which it has used the
powers of its superior reason to devise and indulge. It
threatens to degenerate and to destroy itself by an abuse
of the very element by which it was intended to maintain
and, by transmutation, to regenerate itself.
There can be no question of racial suicide when
humanity rises spiritually, and thereby rises above sex —
and when, after attaining every purpose of human
existence, it leaves the human for the supermannic life.

WOMAN TOO
The demand for sexual abstinence on the part of both sexes is
put forward with good reason.

MAN AND woman are basically alike.

Although differing anatomically and physiologically,
their bodies are but incidental variations of one
fundamental form, as is indicated by the presence of
vestigial organs in each. Even the primary reproductive
organs of each are in all their parts represented in the
opposite sex. And the secondary characteristics of each lie
dormant in the opposite sex.
Apart from the body, and especially in latent spiritual
possibilities, man and woman are, perfectly equal one
with the other. From the spiritual point of view there is no
difference between woman and man. The psychological
trends that appear in men and in women, are not
specifically masculine or feminine. There is no pure
 masculinity or femininity, in the psychological sense.
Every individual contains both in many aspects. Both
sexes are represented in every individual. And in the
perfect man, eternal femininity and eternal masculinity
come into contact with one another in perfect balance.
Apparent dissimilarities in traits of character and of
mind have been caused by the differing influences to
which men and women have been exposed through
countless ages. In personal ways of expression men
acquired all that manliness implies, and women became
what is now considered to be womanly, on account of the
specific social rules under which each of the sexes evolved.
Men were standardized in accordance with the accepted
masculine model, and women were moulded to conform
with the prevailing canons of femininity.
Sexually man and woman both are essentially and
naturally pure. In this respect it may be held that there is
no difference at all. But due to the fact that woman has
been more shielded from sexually stimulating factors, she
has generally manifested less sensuality — and, as a result,
more spirituality — than man. In women sexual feeling is
in the majority of cases in abeyance and requires
considerable excitement to be roused at all. In, not
artificially stimulated women the libido is considerably
weaker than it is in men.
Although there are exceptions, there can be no doubt
that the normal sexual sentiment of woman is developed-in
the direction of, a longing for children. For this, when not
for loves sake or for gain, she has endured mans passion,
almost invariably in dispassionate surrender.
Originally for the sake of maternity woman has
focussed her attention on attracting and pleasing the male.
So intense has been this effort to attract him that from a
means it has become an end in itself, while the racial
purpose behind it has been neglected and has become
nearly obsolete. And while concentrating on mans physical
demands woman has retarded her further spiritual
unfoldment.
Still, woman is generally in spirituality superior to
man. And morally the general superiority of woman over
man is unquestionable. She can retain this twofold
superiority as long as she does not begin to yearn for and
to indulge in sense-gratification.
But in recent times many women have been led to
regard sexual expression as a symbol of new freedom and
to desire it as a supposed mode of self-expression. They
might change their modern viewpoint if they but knew that
they have been led to their new attitude by a treacherous
ruse of man! Modern woman's magna charta was written
by, man. Under male debauched inspiration modern
emancipated woman has extended the bounds of
feminism.
When woman began to assert her right to physical and
social independence and to break the thralldom of her sex,
man saw the imminent danger of his loss of power over
her. He came to a conscious or subconscious realization
that the increasing intelligence of woman was removing
from his grasp those superficial, shallower female
ministrations which he desires. Having to reckon with her
growing mental faculties he had to find new means of
inveigling her into a continued compliance to his desires.
And so, through screen and stage and print he has
assailed the more dignified attitude of woman towards
sex. He has made morality seem ridiculous, faithfulness
foolish, chastity a superstition, sex a compelling power.
And by encouraging in her the use of the same stimulating
factors that have overexcited him — including nicotine
and alcoholic drinks — he has made her more receptive to
the suggestion that his grosser desires are also hers.
In his own interests man has invented various
doctrines which he has persuaded many women to
believe. One of these man-made doctrines is a new system
of psychology which inculcates the idea that health and
happiness can only be attained by giving free rein to
supposedly natural impulses. Through this ultra-modern
psycho-sophistry he has threatened her with imaginary
dangers of neuroses, of sickliness and wretchedness, if she
does not yield to his amorous entreaties.
And, too, he has pretended to encourage her in her
demand for equal rights with him. He has suggested that
she as well as he shall have the right to live and love. And
what is meant by this suggestion is, plainly, that she too
seek sexual experiences probatively, promiscuously, and
prophylactically, but above all not propagatively.
So specious and confusing have been mans methods of
persuasion that woman has often been convinced.
Undoubtedly, in the end she will discover, through the
painful method of trial and error, that the fewer her sex
experiments the greater her ultimate well-being,
spiritually as well as physically. Meantime, instead of
lifting man to her own purer, higher level, she is
descending toward his.
Therefore an exhortation to sexual purity is now not
being written for men only, but for women too — for those
at least who value health and happiness if not for
themselves then for the sake of the children which may be
theirs; and especially for those who value spiritual growth.
The process of spiritualization is the same for woman
as it is for man. For both one of the first requirements for
spiritual unfoldment is to rise above all sensual, and
above all unproductive sexual expression. Thus only can
one elude the cause of pain and sorrow, and reach
spiritual power.

A SINGLE STANDARD
The double standard of morals, is wholly indefensible from
the biological as from every other point of view.
PATRIARCHY AND matriarchy each has occasionally
prevailed in the course of evolution. Now the males, then
the females have been dominant. Whenever either of the
two sexes has wielded dictatorial authority, it has
established a double standard of morals: one of license for
itself, and one of inhibition for the subordinate sex.
Because for many ages male rule has been supreme
much of our feeling on this subject is due to laws and
moral systems which were formed by men, and were in
the first place intended to shield them and their
libertinism. Under the moral code that was contrived by
men women have been regarded as inferior creatures. And
they have contentedly accepted the status assigned to
them. They have, failed to resent masculine immorality.
But in the ascendancy of their emancipation women begin
to realize that duplex sexual morality is an ethic of
injustice, of mendacity and, of hypocrisy, and that it is,
the acme of immorality.
By the disenthrallment of womanhood from sexual
bondage the double standard of sex ethics is, doomed.
One standard of morality must be established for men and
women. The question is which standard is to be adopted.
Women may be granted like sexual freedoms to those
which men possess, or the rigid canons of sexual behavior
which are already imposed upon women may be imposed
upon men also. Both these trends are conspicuously in
evidence today.
If woman insists on stepping into the ways of man,
complete racial degeneration will undoubtedly follow. For
she supplies almost entirely the elements out of which the
succeeding generation is formed. The chastity of the
mothers of the race in the past has helped to at least partly
offset the damaging results of male unchastity, and has so
far prevented the complete breakdown of the race.
Only if man adopts the chastity which used to be so
highly praised in woman, regeneration of the race will
become possible.
 In the period of transition from the double standard to
a single, symptoms of lack of balance and of flagrant
extremes are bound to manifest. Every revolutionary
movement drives a large contingent of the emotional and
of the ignorant to indiscriminate, impassioned, ruinous
acts.
The successful revolt of woman for emancipation has
been helpful in the approach to a single standard. But in
many cases women's new freedom is a rather smudgy
carbon copy of mans petty vices. Too often the demanded
equality, has become equality in lust and passion.
Emancipation has grown into licentiousness.
If women want to perfect their emancipation they will
have to impose their higher standards on men, rather
than accept the lower standards, which they rightly used
to deprecate in men. For the sake of woman's cause there
is a need of a woman-made code of sex morality on which
the women of the future will act for their own protection
and for the protection of children — and on which they
will therefore require men to act. The task will assuredly
not be accomplished by women copying mens sexual
soullessness, but by the rule of chastity, becoming
generally enforced in practice through the refusal of
women to be parties to its violation.
In the end the double standard of sex morality, can be
removed not by the revolt of woman but by the restraint
of man. When a lasting and uplifting single standard is
established the morality of men will be judged by the
same standard as the morality of women. Men will be
forced to place a curb upon their passions and learn to
exercise control. Ultimately chastity will be the ideal for
men as well as for women.
Man must be made to see that the woman's cause is
mans; they rise or sink together, dwarfed or godlike, bond
or free. He should understand that in delivering her he
also delivers himself. And in order to deliver her he must
free himself of sex, for in that way only can he free
woman. In his purity, lies her salvation.
The most valid reason why man should not be inferior
to woman in sexual purity is that the racial interest
requires from him the same strict chastity as from the
woman. Strict female chastity was originally demanded in
the interest of posterity . . The interest of posterity
requires the same strict chastity in the man; in him it
exacts the great chastity of paternity, to match the great
chastity of maternity.
A logical, ethical, noble single standard must
necessarily be one of strict chastity for all.
The single standard can never be one of equal rights.
Rights are too often conflicting. Rights can only be upheld
at the cost of inequality. The ideal single standard will
have to be one of equal duties, of equally shared racial
responsibility, rather than of equal rights.
As long as physiological differences between the sexes
exist there can be no perfect sexual equality. But there can
be and there must be for male and female equally a
perfect liberty not of but from sexual expression, except in
dedicated loving service to the race. By accepting this
standard of liberty for herself, and by enjoining it upon
man, woman can finally and gloriously win her real
emancipation.
Adoption of the single standard of equal purity will
automatically bring about not only woman's social and
mental, and mans moral emancipation, but also the
spiritual emancipation of both,

FREEDOM
We are not free agents so long as we are on the rack of sex.

THE MEMBERS of the younger generation are in open

moral revolt — not quite without some justifiable reasons.
They have discovered the undeniable fact that their
predecessors and preceptors have run the business of life
unto the brink of ruin; that bombastic and dogmatic sham
and bigotry have begun to characterize the rules by which
that business is conducted; and that under the polished
surface of the structure in which life's business is carried
on, dry-rot from pretense, prudery, cant and hypocrisy
has developed. The elders who for so long have been the
sacred guardians of civilization have bungled their task
abominably. As a result the young people have an inkling
that once precious assets have been squandered or
neglected, so that little of value seems to be left over for
the succeeding generation.
The pity however is that they are trying to take charge
before having acquired the necessary preparatory
knowledge and the ability to do better than their elders.
What they desire is freedom in their own ways of running
life — although their own ways, proper, are decidedly
improper. Blind are they to the fact that life is more than a
childish having our own way, than an indulgence of our
whims and passions. It is not merely a list of
opportunities for self-satisfaction but a set of obligations
for realizing spiritual good. Life is not made happy, by
getting what we happen to want, neither by wantonness,
but by seeking what can make us lastingly happy.
Young people overlook the fact that liberty does not
consist in taking liberties, nor in libertinism. They seem
quite unaware that freedom must be won, by an
incalculable discipline of the intellectual and moral
powers; that only he is free, who has controlled his
passion; and that we can know no freedom so long as we
are slaves of the senses. We only reach absolute liberty,
when we have the greatest authority over ourselves.
Freedom from all restraint is what modern youth is
fighting for — forgetting that it is restraint which
characterizes the higher creature and betters the lower.
Any constraint put upon impulse, desire, passion, and any
limitation of caprice and self-will is regarded as a fettering
of freedom. But we should look upon such limitation as
the indispensable proviso of emancipation, instead of
adhering to that false and misleading doctrine of freedom
which encourages our lower inclinations to run riot while
allowing our higher nature to pass into decay.
The desire for freedom, may become a source of
antagonism to culture; and such so-called freedom is
liable to become the occasion for all imaginable excesses.
It is under the influence of false teachings about freedom
that in impassioned frenzy the rampageous revolters tear
down whatever they consider an obstruction: barriers of
decency, pillars of man-made laws, and warning signposts
of the wisdom of the ages. Finally they crash into, and
meet disaster for themselves in venturing to break up, the
adamantine monuments of natures own great laws.
As in all previous premature revolts of untrained rebels
the feasting and ravaging will go on until all are
exhausted, their vital energies spent. Either they will wake
up and realize their errors, or the task of clearing up the
ruins will fall upon another generation.
Intact under the ruins will then be found the long
discarded treasure that has been known and remembered
always by just a very few: the treasure metaphorically
consisting of the indestructible tablets on which are
inscribed the manifestos of eternal spiritual laws.
Only by studying those laws and by living in
accordance, by becoming all at-one with them can
freedom be attained. By asserting once more the
dominion of spirit over matter and of spiritual freedom
over animal slavery, the soul learns that in the life of the
spirit only is true liberty.

CRIME
The greatest cause of crimes is lust. — PLATO
CRIME As determined by passion is forced upon the
attention of moralist and magistrate by the large number
of active and passive victims for which it is responsible.
Sexual immorality, is a most prolific source of crimes.
Definitely sexual crimes are amongst the saddest
phenomena of modern criminality; everywhere court
dockets bear out the tale with murders for lust, and other
crimes of jealousy and perversion. And indirectly, too, in a
more general sense the viciousness and crime so prevalent
in this day are the logical harvest springing out of the
unnatural sex relations of our artificial civilization.
Considering that by far most of humanity's sexual acts are
inherently unnatural and perverse, it is no wonder that
the harvest in the form of crime is steadily increasing.
With both men and women sex as an immediate
excitant to crime is acknowledged to serve in much the
same way as alcohol serves as an excitant to sex interest.
Stirred beyond control, the fire of sexual lust, kindles
every species of wantonness. There is no criminal purpose
and no evil deed which the lust for carnal pleasure will not
drive a person to undertake.
Already in adolescent delinquency a strong connection
between sensuality and crime is evident. The criminal
habit commences in most young people, with illicit sexual
indulgence. And experts have found sexual precocity
characteristic of young criminals.
All this adds force to the conclusion to which
philosophers have come, namely that the lust for sexual
excitement is the greatest ill of all, and that concupiscence
is the root of all evil. What humanity has made of the
sexual urge by abuse and overstimulation undoubtedly
constitutes the basic origin of most of the misery that
oppresses mankind. Were concupiscence brought back
within the limits of its natural purpose of racial
preservation, there would be far less crime, because the
greatest incentive would be lacking.
 Certainly, it is time that law enforcement gave more
attention to the close correlation of sex and crime.
Most people, of course, feel themselves far beyond the
possibility of committing or of being accessories to the
commitment of any crime. Yet, few are entirely free from
sharing in the guilt of those who perpetrate sexual crimes.
Part of the guilt falls on all who foster erotic thoughts and
cherish passional emotions.
It has become a platitude to say that thoughts are
things; and hardly any one seems to take it very seriously
that also passional emotions create, a variety of thought-
forms. Yet it seems only logical that every little thought or
emotion sends out a vibratory wave which links up with
others of its own nature. They reinforce each other until
very powerful blocks of emotion-form are floating about,
and a person may readily be influenced by them.
Thus it appears to be literally true that sensuality,
hangs over humanity like a heavy funereal pall, which is
ready at any moment to pounce on the unwary and inject
its poison into their emotional organism. All who are
receptive — the young, the weak of character, the
sensually sensitive, the criminally inclined — they all are
dangerously exposed to the influence of the accumulated
terrible thought-forms to which many a self-righteous
person has contributed a far from negligible share.
In essence the merest erotic thinking is apt to
contribute to somebody's criminal delinquency — which
makes the thinker of sensual thoughts an instigator of
crime. Considering this, one may well come to the
conclusion that, in so far as moral responsibility is
concerned, it is one of the greatest crimes to indulge in
sexual sensuality.

THE ALTRUISM OF ETHICS

As an ethical being man is naturally superior to passion.
THE FOUNDATION Of ethics is others-mindedness.
Though often considered to be the equivalent of
morality, ethics is strictly only that part of applied
morality which in every act shows due consideration of
others. It is the result of a recognition that each is but an
integral part of the whole, and that therefore the true
interests of others are identical with ones own. It is an
expression, though as a rule an unconscious one, of the
inner spiritual knowledge of the oneness of all life.
If humanity is to build a better world out of the present
conditions, the ideal that regulates the new world must be
an ethical one. And in order to be truly ethical it must be
altruistic, it must in every action give foremost
consideration to the well-being of others; its final test
must be the total welfare and progress of society.
Along with the application of ethical principles in other
fields a new and better sexual ethic is indispensable. It,
too, must be based on the interests of others, and this can
be attained in one way only: the sexual impulse must be
subordinated to the welfare of society, through the
cultivation of inhibition. Therefore increasing inhibition
of the lower centers by the higher and diminishing sexual
passion must play a strong part in determining conduct in
the future. Thus alone can ethics become manifest in the
sexual life of mankind. Any so-called ethics which does
not recognize the necessity of putting restraint upon naive
desire is inherently absurd.
After all, in the sexual domain as in every other field
the true interests of the individual and of the race are
identical. For if man controls his desires for the sake of
higher social motives, he himself rises in the scale of
being. A consistent practice of inhibition of the sex
impulse for ethical reasons leads toward individual and
social evolutionary perfection at the same time. If we all
so ordered our conduct that it should be in harmony with
the destiny of mankind, the highest perfection would be
attained. To approach this ideal state each must make
such a contribution of his own that if all contributed
similarly the result would be perfection.
But whenever a sensual impulse is permitted to
influence thoughts and acts ethics is forgotten. Then the
singular violence of amorous passion, can lead to
forgetfulness of the most sacred duties. All the
indecencies of life have arisen as a result of this. At such
times even the idealistically inclined often do not find it
necessary to introduce higher ideals into their lives.
To be effective under all circumstances ethics must be
based on a view of life which emphasizes the spiritual
power of man over mere impulse, a view in which the
spiritual element is cultivated and all practiced.
The popular idea that sexual behavior is exclusively
ones private affair is antagonistic to the very principle of
ethics.
Every sexual act touches the interests of society and of
the race. Even whether or not directly harming another
person, even whether or not fomenting and spreading
disease, sexual activity is always intrinsically not just ones
own but a racial affair. When the act is purely propagative
the interests of the individual to be born — and thereby of
coming generations — are evidently involved. In every
other case sexual activity, in whatever form it may
manifest, is an expression of sensual self-gratification and
as such is detrimental to the race. Every individual, who
claims the liberty to use the reproductive energy merely
for his own pleasure spreads in society the germs of
disorder. For a terrible interrelation joins that supposed
private action to the most distant events in the social life.
To divert the generative power into channels for
personal gratification is detrimental to the race for this
reason also that it interferes with the spiritual
development of the acting individual. Humanity can
advance in its evolution only if the separate units
progress. Hence to impede individual evolution in effect
hampers the evolution of humanity. On this basis, too,
sexual behavior proves to be by no means only ones
private affair, but a matter of racial importance.
For all these reasons every sexual act that is devoid of
propagative intention, being inconsiderate of the best
interests of humanity, is preeminently lacking in altruism
and is unethical. If we want to be ethical our duty towards
ourselves and the interest of humanity demand that we
should have no passion. Many may consider this an
extremists view. But ethics insists on the extreme.
It is a hard ethic, you say, But only so can we cease to
be beasts and begin to be gods.

SUPREME MORALITY
The moral law, must be the expression of supreme purity.

CHANGING times and climes moral codes have

fluctuated like fashions, customs and conventions. But all
these varying, arbitrary and relatively moral codes have
made allowances for human shortcomings and
limitations. They are merely distant semblances of an
absolute, unvarying standard.
There is a universal moral law, as universal and
immutable as that of gravitation. It contains the standard
of moral perfection. Only if the foundation of our actions
is that they shall be consistent with the universal rule,
which is valid at all times and for every one, then our
conduct has its source in the principle of true morality.
The absolute moral law is for eternity engraved in the
scrolls of spirit — not as an imposed command, but as a
statement of facts in nature. To have access to these
scrolls one must needs be spiritually evolved. Those who
had reached that stage have always demonstrated the
absolute moral law in their own lives; and many of them
have tried to render the canons of this law in as simple,
lucid terms as human language permits, in order that
others might know the way to spiritual attainment.
Based on natures immutable laws the principles of
morality are axioms like those of geometry. These moral
axioms can be condensed into one phrase: the need of
purification, leading to faultless purity.
In order to advance in harmony with evolution, and to
grow spiritually, it is necessary to follow the principles of
supreme morality in every respect. But in the realm of sex
particularly great stress must be laid on the necessity of
purification because the spiritual in us is so overborne, so
overweighted by the animal.
The human constitution as it exists today containing a
large animal element, cannot furnish the basis of rational
morality. Therefore, in practice morality should be based
not on human nature in its existing vitiated condition, but
on human nature, ideal, as it may be in the future.
Essentially the moral task of man is spiritualization.
To be effective, morality must work so, that in everything
the realm of the spirit may be increased, because in that
direction lies the evolutionary perfectibility of human
nature. While striving after morality we are at the same
time battling for our own spiritual self, for a complete self-
consciousness of the spiritual life is attained first in
morality in a morality far above the common standard. No
dabbling in half-way measures, which cater to personal
deficiencies, can bring results.
Unavoidably, in order to become spiritual, man must
unfailingly apply the absolute moral law, for the truly
spiritual man cannot be, an immoral man; if he were he
would kill his spiritual life.
Until spirituality has been gained, life is a never
ceasing duel between the animal impulse and morality. A
heavy struggle sometimes. But any system of morality
which accommodates itself to what is easy for man to do
corrupts the perfection of humanity.
Even for every-day existence `the moral law must be,
the law in obedience to which perfection consists. If there
is to be any moral progress the lower must be forced to
give way to the higher. The moral principle
. . . contradicts the passions and serves to check them.
With regard to the corporeal life our moral task consists in
not being passively determined by fleshly desires.
Morality, demands actual struggle with the flesh.
All such statements as just quoted are not arbitrarily
conceived. They are only the practical expression of
absolute moral law. Every breaking of that law — in other
words: every act that is not perfectly pure — is spiritual
suicide.


LAWS

The supreme Law can be known only, when the ego has
disentangled itself from the enticements of sex.

WE ARE all held fast and guided, not only in our physical
but also our moral lives, by immutable Laws. Law rules
the universe. Macrocosm and microcosm, the invisible
and the visible, the spiritual and the material worlds are
definitely bound by natures all embracing Laws.
In the lower kingdoms natural Law rules =protested.
The minerals, as all matter, are subject to physical Laws,
most of which science has discovered and analyzed. In the
vegetable kingdom the Laws of life work automatically. In
the animal kingdom natures moral Law finds unopposed
expression through instinct.
It is only in the human kingdom that the Laws of
nature are militated against by mans self-sufficiency and
by the predominance of his desires over the mind. The
primitive races have kept at least a few remnants of
natures higher Laws as an instinctive basis for their
distorted rules of taboo. But with an increasingly selfish
use of the developing mind, mind itself has been
subjugated and chained to matter — and this has caused
the civilized races to become more and more blinded to
the moral Law of nature.
Particularly blinding in this way is the enslavement of
mind and body to the allurement of sex. Man seems to
think that he is free to use the sexual function in any way
he wants. He reasons like an outlaw who imagines that no
law applies to him and that he is free to take whatever he
may want, so long as he is not caught. But results will
somehow ultimately show that one cannot with impunity
evade or break the laws — least of all natures Laws,
because their application is automatic and inexorable.
All of natures moral and spiritual Laws have been
pushed into the background of human consciousness, and
have been replaced by man-made legislation which
expresses only the temporary moral standard of not yet
highly evolved majorities. However, the eternal moral
order, cannot be canceled by civil laws.
Civil laws have their useful place in the scheme of
evolution. With humanity as it is, social life would be
impossible without civil codes and laws. And where the
many are more amenable to compulsion, than to moral
ideals, the rules laid down by legislation serve as a
preparation for a higher morality. Where the conscious
touch with natures Laws is lacking the man-made lenient
laws which are framed to meet the weakness of human
character can serve temporarily as substitute moral
guides. But since these substitutes are naught but
changeable makeshifts, and are of unreliable strength,
they cannot be accepted as dependable permanent guides.
The best that can be expected as an immediate effect of
civil laws is to keep within the bounds of decency those
who are still sub-moral. But as a standard of true morality
such laws are quite inadequate. Anyhow, true morality
cannot be legislated into a person; it cannot be enforced
by civil law. By means of laws and regulations ye cannot
make them chaste that are not thither so. Man-made laws
have never yet supplanted animality.
Morality is a function of the human soul, It is not
inculcated from without. Man has it primarily within
himself. True morality must grow from within, concurrent
with spiritual unfoldment. The moral Law that lies at the
center of nature° can be understood only from within. By
seeking to understand that Law and by living up to its
high standard one can outgrow the outer civil laws. But
one will never violate them then. All who evade and
violate civil laws prove by this very act that they are still
sub-moral.
Real morality consists in strict obedience to natures
highest spiritual Laws. Obedience to natures Laws
includes the practice of obedience to man-made laws,
because it is impossible to violate a civil law without also
violating some universal ethical or moral principle. And
though one may succeed in escaping legal punishment, it
is not possible to evade natures retribution.
Those who have really outgrown the need of civil laws
have also outgrown every inclination to violate human
laws as much as natures Laws.
Nature will permit no violations of her Laws even
though nations must perish in order to uphold them.
Therefore we must all strenuously seek to live in
accordance with nature, or else inevitably suffer disaster.
In regard to the sexual life we must remember that
chastity, is the Law of nature. In order to rise out of
degradation, misery, poverty and ruin, the individual
must come to a clear understanding of this Law. Instead
of wasting the life force in sex sensations, this energy
should be used in idealistic, constructive ability.
 In order to progress on the path of evolution man must
reestablish the link with spirit by consciously bringing his
physical as well as his mental life into harmony with
natures fundamental Laws; for that which links spirit to
matter, is the Laws of nature.

TABOOS
Chastity forms part of the rules, known as taboo.

IN STRONG contrast to the spreading lack of chastity

among the more or less civilized portion of humanity the
savage may be said to possess a natural chastity. Where he
has lost this, the sexual depravity of savage races most
often arises from the influences of civilized people.
In territories inhabited by natives who were not yet
contaminated by association with civilization and,
degraded by contact with white peoples, explorers have
found that some tribes who are in other respects among
the lowest are in this respect among the highest. They
discovered that primitive man, on the whole, is more
moral than civilized man.
Outstanding is the fact that the majority of barbarous
peoples emphasize prenuptial chastity as an ideal. For
instance, in Borneo prenuptial intercourse was forbidden
by the Hill-Dayaks; in Nias both seducer and seduced
were put to death. In some of the independent tribes in
the Ulterior of the Philippine Islands chastity is held in
great honor, and is protected by very severe laws. In
Australia promiscuous intercourse between the sexes is
not all practiced by the aborigines, and their laws on the
subject, are very strict; before the advent of the whites, it
was almost death to a young man to have intercourse
before being married. The Sulka in New-Britain believe
that sexual intercourse pollutes both men and women,
married as well as unmarried. They who have lived among
the Tasmanians, speak with respect of their purity.
Chastity was highly regarded by the Basutos and the
Bakwains in Africa, where the Nandi, say that people are
dirty when they have had sexual intercourse. IA Ceylon
among the Veddas, girls are protected with the keenest
sense of honor. By the Bodos and Dhimals of India
chastity is prized in man and woman, married and
unmarried. Among the Cambodians strict chastity seems
to prevail; and if we cross the Himalayas to the North we
find ourselves among wild people to whom sexual license
is unknown.
It cannot be denied that conditions of sexual depravity
have been found in places where it could not possibly have
been introduced by the white man. It would be strange if
this were not the case. For even low tribes possess enough
mind to be able to overstimulate and misdirect their
sexual impulse. All in all, however, there is plenty of
evidence to show that the importance, even sacredness of
procreation is much more generally recognized by savage
than by civilized peoples, and that primitive customs are
generally chaste.
In the case of the lowest savages, who seem still very
close to the state of the animal kingdom, we may speak of
an instinct for chastity. Their mind hardly awakened, they
remain unconsciously dependent on the directions of
natures intelligence. Undoubtedly their chastity is a
survival of an inborn and still instinctive obedience to the
laws of nature. They are yet not spoiled by a wrong use of
the mind.
With those at a slightly more advanced stage instinct
has been replaced by the unwritten law of taboo. And by
taboo the sexuality of primitive man, seems to be more
strictly circumscribed than it is in higher levels of
civilization.
Not only does one meet with taboos against
fornication and adultery, but in certain physiological
crises, a woman must not be approached by a man. And
the extremely widespread habit of avoiding intercourse
during pregnancy and suckling, is an admirable
precaution in sexual hygiene.
Also, many savages have made it a rule to refrain from
sexual intercourse in time of war; and even before a
fighting, harpooning or hunting expedition. In several
tribes, during such expeditions, also the people who
remain at home must observe strict chastity. Then, again,
a practice of abstinence from fleshly lusts has been
observed by various peoples as a sympathetic charm to
foster the growth of the crops.
The facility with which the savage places these checks
on sexual intercourse bears witness to the weakness of
the sexual impulse. That impulse is inherently weak in
the natural state; in civilization it is strong only because it
has been unnaturally and unduly overstimulated.
In many rules of taboo it is evident that savages,
esteem chastity for its value as a method of self-control
which contributes towards the attainment of important
ends. This is an attitude which civilization has lost, but
necessarily must regain.
The latest, most extensive ethnological investigations
show conclusively that always there is a close relation
between sexual opportunity and cultural condition. The
societies where prenuptial continence is not imposed and
where the opportunities for sexual indulgence after
marriage are greatest, exhibit the least amount of energy.
In other words: the more restraint, the greater the energy
available for the attainment of higher cultural conditions.
This applies not only to savages, but to civilized man as
well. The energy created by sexual restraint is the motive
power which makes it possible for us to conceive
desirable ends, and to think out the means for realizing
them. Whether, according to the individuals evolutionary
progression, the sought-for ends be of a physical, of a
 mental, or of a spiritual nature: increased restraint
increases the obtainable .

ABORIGINAL RELIGION

Among many peoples persons whose function it is to

perform religious rites must be celibates.
FROM THE primitive savage, kneeling before some
supposedly sacred tree or holy stone, thrilled with the
thought that somewhere at the back of created matter
vibrates a Force beyond his knowing, down to the great faiths
of today, men have understood a reality behind the shifting
panorama of nature. And they have ever tried to discover
means of contacting that reality beyond material forms,
beyond matter — the reality that can only be found in the
formless realm of spirit.
Religion is the attempt to approach spirit; but spirit can
only be reached when religion is freed from routine form. Of
essential interest therefore are not the differences in rituals
and dogmas of the different religions, but the points of
agreement of their underlying principles. And of these one of
the most striking in the teachings of practically all religions is
the recognition of sexual purity as a prerequisite for
conscious contact with the unknown force, with spirit.
Even in primitive society chastity, is enjoined on solemn
occasions. It is a common rule that he who performs a sacred
act, must be ceremonially clean; and no kind of uncleanness
is more carefully to be avoided than sexual pollutions. It is
almost generally believed that an act regarded as sacred
would, if performed by an unclean individual, lack that
efficacy which would otherwise be ascribed to it.
Abundant evidence to support these last remarks has been
found in numberless tribes, in many parts of the world.
In Southern India the priests of the Todas must be
celibate while in office. On the South Sea islands the skaga of
the Haidas, refrains from sexual inter-course; the Marquesan
candidate for the priesthood had to be chaste for some years
beforehand?; in Efate sexual uncleanness was especially
avoided by sacred men, as it destroyed their sacredness; and
the Tahitians seemed so convinced of the spiritualizing power
of continence that they had a doctrine to the effect that if a
man refrain from all connection with women some months
before death, he passes immediately into his eternal mansion,
as if already, by his abstinence, he were pure enough to be
exempted from the general lot.
In Africa among the Tshi-peoples candidates for religious
offices are trained for two or three years; during this period
the novices, must refrain from all commerce with the other
sex. In Lower Guinea we are told of a priest-king who was not
allowed to so much as touch a woman; while even the cook of
the priest-king of Angoy was expected to keep himself pure.
But the strongest and strangest instance of belief in the
influence of continence was met with in the Congo, where
when the supreme pontiff left his residence to visit other
places within his jurisdiction, all the people had to observe
strict continence the whole time he was out; for it was
supposed that any act of incontinence on their part would
prove fatal to him
In North America the Shawnee Indian had a great respect
for certain persons who observed celibacy and the The linkets
believe that if a shaman does not observe continuous chastity,
his own guardian spirit will kill him. In Mexico any
incontinence amongst the priests was severely punished; the
priest who was convicted of having violated his chastity was
delivered up to the people, who killed him; in Ichcatlan the
high-priest was obliged, to abstain from commerce with any
woman whatsoever, and if he unluckily failed, he was certain
of being torn in pieces.
Especially among the Maya nations of Central America
celibacy was held in high esteem. The natives of the Isthmus
had a priesthood sworn to perpetual celibacy. In Guatamala
the Tohil priests were vowed to perpetual continences; and
among the Chibchas of Bogota the priests were not allowed to
marry.
Sometimes strict continence was required of others,
outside the priesthood. For instance the manufacturers of the
new Yucatan idols had to, preserve their continence during
the process; also in Yucatan they had two war-captains, one
of whom was chosen for a term of three years; during these
years he could know no woman; and the Chichen Itza kings
lived in strict celibacy.
Again, in Zapotecapan it was incumbent upon the pontiff
of Yopaa, to be a shining light of chastity for the guidance of
those who looked up to him; while priests of a lower order,
added also to the credit of their profession by the excessive
rigor with which they guarded their chastity, A glance or a
sign which might be construed into a carnal desire was
punished as criminal. and those who showed by their actions
a strong disposition to violate their vow were relentlessly
castrated.
Some of these instances may be exaggerated and fanatical
expressions of the conviction that continence is indispensable
to the development of spiritual power. In our materialistic
age nearly everybody is inclined to apply to all that has been
said the banal epithet of superstition, which is so commonly
used to decry anything that one does not and does not want
to understand.
But does not this recurrence of a high regard and a
religious demand for chastity by so many different peoples in
the most diverse parts of the world suggest that something
more than superstition must be its fundamental cause?
Even if, the institutions in question have been based
partly on superstition, it by no means follows that they have
never been based on anything else. On the contrary, there is a
strong presumption that they rest mainly on something much
more solid than superstition. The only logical basis for the
universal religious valuation of chastity lies in natures law
that yielding to the senses prevents all contact with spirit.
 Apparently those who originally laid down the rules for
even the most primitive aboriginal religious usages were
acquainted with the fact that sensuality so coarsens the
vibrations of the body as to exclude the finer vibrations of
spirit. Therefore they already taught what humanity still
seems loathe to learn — namely: that the animal life in man
must be subordinated to the spiritual.

SACERDOTAL CELIBACY

The lusts of the flesh are particularly weakening to

him who would give all his attention to the things of
spirit.

RELIGION IN any form, even when disguised almost beyond

recognition, is essentially a means of spiritualizing man, of
bringing him closer to spirit.
Where the individual is not capable of establishing a
direct connection with spirit, some other person — from a
medicine-man to an ecclesiastic — is depended on to aid and
to act as mediator. It is presupposed, of course, that such an
intermediary himself is already closely linked to spirit.
Therefore he should be expected to show in his daily life that
he has freed himself from the domination of matter and from
sensuous appetites.
Recognizing that perfect mortification of passions makes
a true religious man, there has usually been a demand for
sexual purity in those who minister to the peoples religious
wants. This demand has been met even among native tribes,
quite independent of the great world-religions. Indeed, it
seems to be but the expression of a universal principle that
also in the leading religions of cultured humanity of the more
recent epoch, Buddhism and Christianity, religious celibacy is
enjoined, with a view to raising the spiritual nature by
suppressing one of the strongest sensual appetites.
In Buddhism this rule of celibacy has been successfully
maintained, except in later sects on foreign soil. It is asserted
of the Buddhist priest that having put aside the habit and
thought of sexual intercourse, his life is pure. In such old
Buddhistic countries as Burma popular opinion is inflexible
and inexorable on the point of celibacy, The people can never
be brought to look upon any person as a priest or minister of
religion unless he live in that state. The law of celibacy is
observed with a great scrupulosity, and a breach of it is a rare
occasion.
In Christianity sacerdotal celibacy has been one of the
most disputed problems. It had already been a subject of
stirring controversy long before Protestants so drastically
turned against it in protest against abuses. Unfortunately,
instead of attacking and correcting the abuses, they have
repudiated the meritoriousness of celibacy itself. But abuses
are no proof that the principle which is being abused is
wrong. Abuses and exaggerations, naturally accompany such
a great and difficult attempt to elevate man above himself.
The more sublime a doctrine is, the more it is exposed to
abuse at the hands of human nature.
Every part of this book tends to confirm that by sexual
gratification one renders himself unfit for spiritual things —
unfit therefore to be another’s spiritual guide. Only perfect
celibates can truly and effectively aid others in reaching up to
spirit; and even then only if their celibacy is freely chosen, an
outcome of their own inner conviction. Then, strengthening
their own spiritual element, their purity is the elevation on
which human nature culminates.
To become ever more spiritual by outgrowing all carnal
desires — that is the purpose of religious attainment, not only
for ecclesiastics but for every single individual.

VESTAL VIRGINS
 Fire being incorrupt, the chastest of all mortal things, must
look after the fire.

FIRE STANDS in every philosophical and religious system, as

a representation of the spirit. Therefore fire has been
worshipped, flames have been kept on altars (if only by
burning candles) , and perpetual fires have been tended in
temples as a symbol of keeping alive the power of spirit.
In most places the care of such sacred fires was entrusted
to consecrated virgins, symbolizing the fact that sexual purity
is essential in keeping the spiritual fire within man burning.
The ancients universally held virginity as a transcendental,
mysterious something, which exercised power supernaturally.
Wherever virgin-priestesses lived they were distinguished by
extraordinary influence and personal dignity. They were
treated with marks of respect usually accorded to royalty.
In Rome Numa built a temple to Vesta and appointed
virgins to be her priestesses, under a necessity of continuing
unmarried. If they suffered themselves to be debauched they
were delivered up to the most shameful and the most
miserable death. Even before Numas time at Alba there was
an ancient temple of the goddess Vesta; and besides her
virgins there were Junos at the town of Achaia, and Apollos
amongst the Delphians, and Minervas in some places. The
worship of Diana in her sacred grove at Nemi was of
immemorial antiquity, Her holy fire, tended by virgins,
burned perpetually in a temple within the precinct. Scattered
over Greece were shrines ministered at by virgins; best
known of these has always been the temple at Delphi, where
the prophetess, entirely gives herself up to a divine spirit, and
is illuminated with a ray of divine fire, and where only virgin
maidens were consecrated to the service of the oracle.
Also in other parts of Europe vestals have existed. At
Kildare in Ireland the nuns of St. Brigit were in charge of a
perpetual holy fire; in the island of Sena, off the coast of
Brittany, there was an oracle of a Gallic deity whose worship
was cared for by virgin priestesses; and in Lithuania there
seem to have been holy fires that were looked after by virgins.

In some other parts of the world the worshippers turned to

the sun as the solar systems central fire, in which they saw
the manifestation of spirit. Connected with their worship, too,
were consecrated virgins. For instance in ancient Persia there
were sun-priestesses who were obliged to refrain from
intercourse with men; and in Yucatan existed an order of
vestals, whose duty was to tend the sacred fire, the emblem of
the sun, and to keep strictly chaste.
Particularly esteemed among the Incas of Peru was the
perpetual virginity which women observed in many
conventual houses, These virgins were dedicated to the sun.
There was a law for the nun who should transgress this rule of
life, that she should be buried alive and that her accomplice
should be strangled, This was the law, but no one ever
transgressed it. And besides those who professed perpetual
virginity in the monasteries there were many women of the
blood royal who led the same life in their own houses, These
women were held in great veneration for their purity.
Also in Mexico women, took care of the sacred fires.
Nothing was more zealously guarded than the chastity of
these virgins. Any trespass was unpardonable.
Thus in civilizations of a fairly advanced order a reverence
for perfect chastity was frequently found, proving again that
it seems to be an integral part of mans spiritual nature. The
homage paid to vestals everywhere was an expression of the
intuitive recognition of the great significance of unimpaired
virginity as a means of linking up with spirit.
Only an over-culture of the senses as providers of stimuli
for sensual gratification has gradually caused an ever greater
disregard of sexual purity, and has cut most of humanity off
from any contact with the spiritual part of their own inner
nature.
 VIRGIN BIRTHS

The idealization of virginity may be observed in the stories of

supernatural birth.

EVERYWHERE HEROES of extraordinary achievement Or

extraordinary qualities have been of extraordinary birth.
Especially those spiritual giants who are looked upon as
saviors are almost without exception said not to have been
born like ordinary men, but from virgins. The birth story of
Jesus has, and had had before his era, its parallels in
traditions of other religions and in legends of many peoples.
The oldest recorded tale of immaculate conception is
about Sri Krishna, this first of the Messiahs, this eldest of the
sons of God, of whom it is told that he was born of the virgin
Devaki who, seeing herself overshadowed by the Spirit of the
universe, conceived the divine child.
About the Buddha the belief soon sprang up that he had no
earthly father; the opinion is authoritatively handed down
that Buddha had his birth through a virgin on her descended
the spirit and entered her womb. The Siamese likewise had a
savior, called Codom, who was virgin-born. Another instance,
in Persia, is the begetting of Zoroaster through the drinking
of homa-juice, infused with his guardian spirit. And in China
the Shing-moo or holy mother, conceived and bore a son
while yet a virgin. The infant became a great man and
performed mir-acles.
A similar story is told in regard to Loatze. Apol-lonius, was
also born of a virgin-mother according to the stories that
were recorded of him during and shortly after his time. Even
Plato, was reputed by his followers to have been born of a
virgin.
Among spiritual teachers and leaders on the American
continent is the Aztec Quetzakohuatl, he who was born of the
virgin Chalchihuitzli, to whom the Lord of Existence
appeared, and breathed upon her, thereby quickening life
within her. Similarly the ancient mentor of the Mexicans,
Huitzilopochtli is said to have been miraculously brought
forth by a woman who perceived a ball of feathers floating
down to her through the air, taking which she found herself
pregnant. And of Montezuma, divine priest, prophet, leader
and legislator of the Pueblo cities of New-Mexico, the legend
tells how he was immaculately conceived by a drop of dew
falling on the breast of his moth.
In almost endless variety such stories of miraculous
Cr. conception are also related in connection with less
spiritual, but nationally idolized and idealized heroes. In
popular legend and folldore it is almost incumbent on the
hero to be born in such an abnormal manner.
The Romans believed that the founders of their city and
race were the offspring of the virgin Ilia. They also claimed
that the mother of their king Servius Tullius conceived by a
phantom, when alone in the room in which a miraculous
manifestation had been seen to take place, and that the
mother of Julius Ceasar conceived him miraculously in a
temple of Apollo. The emperor Alexander likewise was
conceived by a virgin. Cyrus, king of Persia, was believed to
have been of divine origin. So was the birth of the famous
Genghis Khan ascribed to the glance of a divine or quasi
divine being. In Ireland both Conchobar and Cochulainn were
of supernatural birth; while in Bogota Gacheta was a virgin
who brought forth Garanchaca, a famous chief.
Fo-hi, the founder of the Chinese empire, was the child of
a virgin, who ate a certain flower. The Finnish hero who
became king and master of Karyala was born from Mariatta,
virgin-mother of the Northland. In a very similar way the
American-Indian Hiawatha is described as being the son of
the virginal Wenonah and the Westwind. The incident
appears in the mythology of more than one American people,
and the supernatural birth, is known in large groups of the
Pacific Islands?
 Whether in its physical, biological aspect immaculate
conception ever did or could take place is not the question
here. And for present purposes it matters not whether in its
highest metaphysical aspect its oft repeated story first of all
may have been intended to symbolize the cosmic process of
creation — that is: the impregnation of virgin matter by the
divine breath, out of which a universe is born.
Of more general interest remains the indubitable fact that
so many peoples have deemed the ordinary way of
propagation to be too common, too coarse, too lowly for
those whom they worshipped. In the popular mind the
mightier the hero the greater the need for providing him with
a worthy entrance upon his mortal existence. Popular belief
has wanted such at least to be disconnected from and raised
above all vulgar touch of sex, and has therefore ascribed their
birth to an immaculate conception — in other words: to a
pure and passionless one. Pure must be the form into which
such an individual is born. Race consciousness apparently
has always, everywhere, intuitively known that qualities
worthy of worship belong to realms where the sense of sex
dwells not.
There is, however, still another aspect of the idea of
immaculate conception. It serves as a universal symbol of the
coming into expression in the human individual of what has
variously been called the higher self, the Christ within, the
spirit. In this aspect the idea of virgin birth shows explicitly
that only in the body of a virgin (of either sex) can spirit
come to fruition.

THE BIBLE

Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
ALL THE great faiths have taught abstinence; and
Christianity too has not failed to bring out that in purity lies
the essence of all religion, Always is purity insisted on as a
means to salvation. Unless man doth partake of unspotted
virginity, the hope of salvation is cut off. Every man that hath
this hope in him purifieth himself, knowing that they which
were not defiled with women
. . . were redeemed, and that blessed are the undefiled. Every
one, should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification,
not in the lust of concupis-cence should know especially that
the lust of the flesh is not of the Father, but that it is a man-
made, mind-fed distortion of the natural faculty to propagate
the race.
There is no enemy to the faith like the lower nature of the
individual, and the carnal mind is enmity against God. Hence
the advice to put off, the old man which is corrupt according
to the deceitful lusts, and to make not provision for the flesh,
to fulfill the lusts thereof. But how many Christians follow
this advice? Their marriage is frequently no more than the
making of such a provision.
The essence of the New Testament is the negation of sex,
and the recommendation of genuine and pure celibacy, is
expressed in the New Testament in such sayings as:
concerning virgins, it is good for a man so to be, it is good for
a man not to touch a woman. It is even stated that it is not
good to marry. But all men cannot receive this saying, since it
is meant for those only who whole-heartedly seek spiritual
unfoldment. The natural man receiveth not the things of the
spirit, they are foolishness to him; only he that is able to
receive it, let him receive it). The carnal marriage, in genuine
Christianity, is merely something allowed to those who lack
strength to aspire to the highest. Such marriage is a
concession to human nature, to human weakness. It is
accepted as something apparently as unavoidable for spiritual
infants as diapers are for babes. Better to marry than to burn,
better let babies have diapers than be unclean.
 At the same time a higher form of marriage is spoken of,
one in which they that have mates be as though they had
none — a marriage in which personal ties are based on a
community of spiritual interests and in which spiritual love
transcends physical attractions. This is the ideal marriage for
men and women who seek support in each other in an effort
to outgrow the animal, to grow up to the spiritual. And they
will not fail to find that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy,
peace.

The Gospel clearly shows what the requirements are for

those who long to hasten evolution. They should walk not
after the flesh, but after the spirit, because it is the spirit that
quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. In an evolutionary
sense, to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life.
A strict requirement for one who wishes to be a true
Christian is laid down in the statement that they that are
Christs have crucified the flesh with the passions and the
lusts thereof. Since the flesh lusteth against the spirit, it is
evidently necessary to overcome the lusts of the flesh in order
to become spiritual. Some very practical hints are given to
help in this process; best of all: whatever things are pure,
think on these things, and let no filthy communication come
from your mouth; also remember that filthy dreamers defile
the flesh.
Through night and day the watchword is: to overcome. In
the Scripture overcome is used to symbolize the triumph,
over sex desire. To him that overcom-eth great things are
promised. In the end he that over-cometh, shall go no more
out — apparently meaning that he shall not have to be reborn,
because he shall have accomplished the purpose of existence
in human form.
Definitely according to the teachings of Scripture the only
way that perfection can be attained is by saving the seed; for
whosoever is born of God, his seed remaineth in him. The
Bible could hardly have been clearer in teaching and
beseeching people to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war
against the sour, and in emphasizing the elevating power of
sexual purity.

EARLY CHRISTIANITY

The early Christians preached a doctrine of sexual asceticism

as the ideal for those who would rise to the heights of
spiritual life.

A NEW movement is always purest in its inception, when it is

unencumbered by rules and by-laws of organization, not yet
encrusted with formalities. It has then not yet suffered from
commentators and interpreters. To find the motive power of a
movement it must be studied as it was in the beginning, when
its adherents joined it from conviction, by their own free
choice.
In the early centuries Christianity demanded purity of life.
Strictness in morals and inner purity were the primary
requirements. As a result, for nearly two hundred years after
its establishment the Christian community exhibited a moral
purity which has never been surpassed. In the genuine and
original Christianity the ascetic tendency is unmistakable, It
is the summit towards which all strive upwards; and as in
other ascetic movements celibacy was the first and always the
chief asceticism.
In the pure spiritual vision of the devotees virginity
became the radiant ideal — for men as well as for women, for
there are virgins of both sexes.
Chastity was the supreme virtue, the mystic key to
Christian holiness. Enthusiastic converts took the vow of
chastity. Some associated themselves with congenial souls of
the opposite sex and formed Platonic unions in which they
aspired to maintain the purity which they had vowed; this
institution of spiritual mates continued to flourish for many
generations. However, all vows of continence, were a matter
of individual volition, and therein lay their strength. Vows
cannot be very effective unless they are the outcome of an
inner conviction.
The writings of the early Church Fathers reflect the life,
the thoughts, the aspirations of the Christians of their day. All
of these Fathers, speak of the chastity and sobriety which
characterized the sect, and of marriages of which the sole
object was the securing of offspring. It was urged that a
believer should not touch his wife, except only, for the sake of
children, because to have intercourse except for procreation
is to do injury to nature.
The Fathers exhorted their flocks to abstinence from
sexual gratification because they considered such abstinence
to be the practical method in the science of the divine life,
furnishing men with the power of assimilating themselves
with spiritual natures — in other words, because only by
parsimony of the flesh can one gain the spirit. Therefore, they
said, renounce we things carnal, that we may at length bear
fruits spiritual. Every kindling up of the lurking passion, runs
counter to the spirit; every indulgence of carnal thought and
desire leads away from it. No man can serve, the flesh and the
spirit.
Thus among the early Christians we find the old, yet ever
new and ever true teaching that those who can should
overcome the serpent, the creeping monster which, devours
the earth. They should do so because the desire of lust, makes
one a stranger to the language of the Spirit.
MYSTICISM

In mystic work the serpent must be overcome.

A MYSTIC is one who in intense devotional contemplation
reaches up to union with the divine. Mysticism is an entirely
spiritual activity. The business of the mystic, is to remake his
entire personality in the interest of his spiritual self. He must
become spiritual; and for this purpose he must attain an
uncommon purity of life. The self must be purged of its
devotion to sense , because only when the tumult of the
senses is stilled, can the eternal wisdom be revealed to the
one who seeks mystic communion. Therefore the purification
of the senses, is the first stage of mystic life.
A life of strict asceticism has seemed the only way by
which the carnal self could be purged. For this reason
genuine mysticism cannot exist without asceticism. In order
to still the impulses of the senses the mystic must adopt
ascetic practices; oft very rigorously at first, as thc
preliminary training for a larger spiritual life. And he must
normally continue some of those practices because the
spiritual exaltation which is a part of the mystics life would be
impossible without asceticism. The highest degrees of
spiritual exaltation are hardly conceivable without prolonged
mortification of sensual appetites.
Therefore all the great mystics, observed strict continence.
True mysticism has nothing whatever to do with sexuality.
The true mystic, has risen above sex to the planes where sex
is not. The mystical manuals show that for spiritual
education, the sexual libido must be withdrawn from its
original use. All the writings by mystics bring out the
necessity of sexual purity in their quest. Like most of the
literature of their time, the language of their dissertations is
usually dull and involved. But some of the clearest of their
own statements follow.
No one can be enlightened unless he be first purified. And
purity, is this: that a man withdraws from all unchaste deeds
in whatever manner they be. For un-chastity in actions takes
away the purity of the body, unchastity in thoughts takes
away the purity of the soul. Chastity is the power which,
opens the soul to the things of heaven, whereas fleshly likings
take a man, far from the clear sight of spiritual things.
 Animal-man merely gratifies an animal desire and knows
nothing of the delight of spiritual essences. Only by
annihilating and subduing the passions can the
understanding become divine.
People think that we are in pain and great penance, but
we have more true delight in a day than others have in the
world all their lives. Spiritual comforts exceed all the delights
of the world and all pleasures of the flesh. Even although
abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the
power of bodily appetites and passions and so increase our
taste for spiritual joys, that even these severities, add to the
enjoyment of our lives.
No bodily and fleshly pleasure can ever take place without
spiritual loss. Even a longing after sensual pleasures is unapt
for spiritual enjoyments. Hence we must purify ourselves
from the affections which we have to venial acts; for these
affections, weaken the powers of the Spirit.

Perfection cannot be attained, until all passions and

fleshly lusts are burnt out; so that only those who fight
against their own passions, may conquer and obtain
perfection.
All who follow the lust of the flesh are dead in soul. To live
the spiritual life of the soul farewell must be said to all that
delights the senses; the pleasures of the flesh must be utterly
renounced. For as fire and water will not mix, so spirituality
and carnality cannot be experienced together. All these
quotations are from Christian mystics only. But mystics have
existed in every religion, and also independent of established
forms of religion. The similarity of their experiences is one of
the most convincing indications that all forms of religion and
of spiritual philosophy are based on a single truth on one
reality, which the mystic in his highest state of contemplation
seeks to approach.
Quotations from other mystics, given elsewhere, will
supply additional proof that there is one requirement which
is unanimously acknowledged to be indispensable for their
work, and which no true mystic has ever failed to fulfill. They
have transcended the sense-world in order to live on high
levels the spiritual life.
The mystics often may have been one-sided in their
concentrated effort to reach a spiritualized consciousness.
But just as all others who have aspired to spiritual heights
they have recognized the great transmutability of the sexual
libido, and they have exemplified it as the most essential
need for spiritual development.
Not only to mystics but to all who seek to acquire greater
and lasting happiness through higher evolutionary
attainment applies the rule that within oneself animal-man
must be killed to make room for spiritual man.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

The serpent pursues with hatred the spiritual idea.

AMONGST MODERN religious movements Christian Science

demands attention. Having introduced applied metaphysics
into orthodox religion, it analyzes every subject in a way
characteristically its own. And from its unusual viewpoint it
joins other religions in supporting, in its highest teachings,
the ideal of sexual purity. Its founders emphatic utterances
on this ideal are particularly noteworthy, because they
embody a restatement of the early Christian viewpoint, after
verification by a knowledge of modern psychology.
Holding that it is not wise to take a halting and halfway
position, Christian Science commands man, to conquer lust
with chastity. It warns against the downward tendencies. . . of
sensualism and impurity. It even holds that essentially
celibacy is nearer right than marriage.
As of every other religion so of Christian Science the
purpose is to spiritualize its adherents in its own way. But
then, there is but one way, which leads to spiritual being.
Since there is no sensuality in spirit, spirit, is [only] heard
when the senses are silent. The flesh and spirit can no more
unite in action than good can coincide with evil.
Those who have hope in immortality, as Christian
Scientists have, must keep in mind that nothing sensual, is
immortal; hence everything that in the least savors of
sensuality must be extirpated before the hoped for
immortality can be attained.
According to the teachings of Christian Science corporeal
sense is the serpent. And more definitely in its literature the
serpent is identified with lust. For the manual speaks of that
old serpent whose name is devil, and then defines devil,
[amongst other things as] the lust of the flesh. Therefore the
statement that the serpent, will struggle to destroy the
spiritual idea again brings out that any remnant of sensuality
is looked upon as an obstruction to spirituality.
Moreover there is the very practical consideration that if
sexual propensities were dominated by Christian love for
both the living and the unborn — a subject on which Christian
Science is emphatic — many existing charitable societies
would have no reason to be. For there can be no doubt that
there would be fewer hospital and asylum cases, fewer ailing
or deserted babies, fewer unfit adults to be taken care of by
charity, if considerations of love ruled humanity's sexual
expression.
So, from various angles sexual purity is insisted on; and
purity, from the Christian Science standpoint, is to be
realized through an identification with and a longing and love
for purity.
In popular thought Christian Science is best known for its
method of spiritual or mental healing.
Undoubtedly the extent to which physical health depends
upon the mastery of the spirit over the body has not yet been
fully realized. It cannot be realized and successfully
demonstrated until a high degree of sexual purity has made
spiritual development possible.
 Spiritual, mental, or magnetic healing can be
accomplished only by the most pure. If Jesus obtained
miraculous results in healing in such ways, it was possible to
him because there never lived a man so far removed from
appetites and passions as the Nazarene.
Healers who lack that perfect purity may succeed in
raising physical health vibrations in a patient. But along with
this they are liable to transmit to the subject some of their
own mixed emanations of doubtful purity, which are likely to
prove detrimental in other than physical ways.
To emulate the spiritual healing powers of the Christ it is
prerequisite to emulate his perfect purity. This ideal state can
be attained by any one who really, in every way, will abide by
the morale of absolute Christian Science — [which consists
of] self-abnegation and purity. Only by self-abnegation and
purity, including perfect sexual purity, can one demonstrate
that it is chastity and purity, which really attest to the divine
origin and operation of Christian Science.

ISLAM
Whoever is afflicted with lust is veiled from all spiritual
things.
No RELIGION can be judged by what the masses have made
of its teachings. One has to look for its highest aspect in the
lives and the writings of its wisest and most saintly adherents.
Among the Mohammedans the saintliest and wisest men
and women have always been the Sufis, the mystics of Islam,
whose souls have been freed from the defilement of the flesh.
Their existence dates back to the days of their Prophet; and
already the early Sufis wanted to be free from all that
concerned the phenomenal world in order to be free for the
world of spiritual things. Very soon the Sufis realized the
advantage of celibacy for the mystic; therefore sufism was
founded on celibacy. Sufism is, to keep far from the claims of
the senses and to adhere to spiritual qualities.
 The natural desires in the Sufi are bridled with the bridle
of knowledge; for he recognizes that while man is continually
being directed by intellect and passion into contrary ways,
passion is a false guide, and he is commanded to resist it.
The Prophet himself had said: Thy worst enemy is thy
nafs, which is between thy two sides. Nafs is the seat of
passion and lust, It constitutes the great obstacle to
attainment. Mortification of the nafs is the chief work of
devotion, No disciple who neglects this duty will ever learn
the rudiments of sufism. The principle of mortification is that
the nafs should be weaned from those things to which it is
accustomed, that it shall be brought to recognize . . the
impurity of its actions.
Self-mortification as advanced Sufis understand it is a
moral transmutation of the inner man. They hold that
complete independence from the carnal self, is a state which,
if lost, means loss of eternal bliss Their concept of fana—
which in some respects closely coincides with the Buddhists
idea of nirvana — involves the extinction of all passions and
desires.
The Sufis are not the only Mohammedans who are
convinced that sexual acts interfere with spiritual expression.
Among the Turks the order of Qaleadars is bound to
perpetual virginity. The Moors say that, when one is sexually
unclean, the reciting of passages of the Koran is of no avail;
and a person who is sexually unclean is not allowed to pray.
Also any Mohammedan would not dare to approach the
sanctuary of a saint in a state of sexual uncleanness. And in
regard to the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every good
Mohammedan aspires to undertake, the Koran admonishes
that whosoever purposeth to go on pilgrimage, let him not
know a woman nor transgress during the pilgrimage.
The charge that Mohammed allowed men to pander to
their passions is ludicrous. He imposed fasts upon every one
of his followers to assist them to detach themselves from the
passions. He banned alcoholic drinks in order to assist their
efforts at self-control. Long and frequent periods of sexual
abstinence are enjoined. There must for instance be no sexual
intercourse, during the thirty days of the Rame-dan fast.
Although this rule is not strictly prescribed in the Koran, it is
so understood by the Sufis who hold that the religious
practice of fasting, involves not only keeping the belly without
food and drink, but also guarding the eye from lustful looks,
the tongue from foul words, and the body from following after
worldly things. Only one who acts in this manner is truly
keeping his fast. And in addition to the fast the Prophet.
enforced, forms of self-discipline, imposed with the aim of
subordinating the habits of the body to the spiritual welfare
of the soul.
Whatever concessions Mohammedanism as it is all
practiced may have made to the masses, it nevertheless shows
in its teachings an understanding of the fact that the
abandonment of sensual desires, draws the soul towards
heaven.
In this way at least the esotericists among the
Mohammedans reaffirm the basic law that a strict
purification of the sexual life is absolutely necessary for
progressed evolutionary unfoldment.

JUDAISM

If man purifies himself he will receive the assistance of the

holy soul.
THE SANCTITY of perfect continence may be traced through
the most distant ages and the most various creeds, including
Judaism. It may be true that Judaism was in some respects
the least ascetic of religions, but in it appear prophets, whose
lives were severely austere. Moreover, • that the Jews,
entertained ideas of peculiar sanctity as attaching to the
restraint of the animal passion is shown, by the vows of
continence of the Pharisees.
Whole Hebrew sects have regarded virginity as the ideal
of sanctity. Especially the Essenes, lived in a condition of
celibacy; while the fear of, reinforcing the lower appetites of
the human being inspired the vegetarianism of the Jewish
Therapeutae. In the Nazarenes too the Jews possessed such a
body of men.
The Old Testament indicates that among the Hebrews we
find the restriction [of sexual intercourse] in connection with
the theophany at Sinai, and with the use of consecrated
bread. Those who celebrate the Passover also are bidden to do
so with their loins mortified. Strict continence was required
of the Hebrew congregation, before entering the temple.° And
there is mention of a similar abstinence being imposed by the
old law on the Levites during their term of service in the
temple. Also when the Israelites marched forth to war they
were bound by certain rules of ceremonial purity, and they
had to all practice continence.
Under all circumstances, over against all other views,
Judaism holds firmly to the purity of the human being. It is
even claimed that Jewish ethics excels all other ethical
systems in its insistence on purity. . . Any unchaste look,
thought or act, and all profanity of speech is declared to be an
unpardonable offense.
Conclusive proof of the Hebrews appreciation of sexual
abstinence can be found in the Talmud, which treats of the
common law, customs and ritual considered essential to the
outward life of the Israelite.
The Torah [teaching, or law) has been revealed only for
the purpose of purifying human beings. And more effectively
than anything else, abstinence leads to purity, and purity
leads to holiness. Therefore be temperate and chaste, and
purify and sanctify thyself from all iniquity
A splendid instance of Talmudic wisdom in regard to
sexual purity is contained in the lines stating that there is a
small organ in the human body which is always hungry if one
tries to satisfy it, and always satisfied if one starves it.
In their entirety, the laws have been given to Israel to
purify it and to cleanse it from fleshly appetites.
Hebrew philosophers too have strongly emphasized the
need of sexual purification.
Philo for instance called attention to the moral disease
seated in the flesh. He warned that the passions injure the
mind, and that their onset is swift and difficult to withstand.
He affirmed that the perfect man must be pure in every word
and in every action in his whole life.
Maimonides reminded his readers of the fact that the
Rabbis. . . command that man should conquer his dc. sires.
And he held that those who wish to be men in truth, must
constantly endeavor to reduce the wants of the body, such as,
cohabiting.
Later Hebrew thinkers made it clear that moral
regeneration must be an outgrowth of ones own power; by
great struggles must one obtain, spiritual equilibrium.
Despite the sensual propensity innate in mans nature he is
vested with the power of conquering it. The sensuous desire
in the body is, never a compulsion. Therefore one must lend
no ear to appetite, and be chaste in private even as in the
marketplace, In Judaism as in other religions the deepest and
most valuable wisdom is to be found in its esoteric teachings.
The Hebrew secret science, known as the Qabbalah, can be
found in its most accessible form in the Zohar, which is a
Qabbalistic commentary on the Pentateuch wherein the
entire system of the Qabbalah is compiled.
In the Zohar it is stated that the mighty evil serpent roams
about in the world, and thus the child of man becomes
polluted. When that strong serpent begins to arise, woe then
unto thee ! Only when man comes to cleanse himself, the holy
soul sanctifies him. The good spirit comes to him from the
day he becomes pure. But at the time man deviates from this
wax. . . the holy soul no longer has a connection with him.
 Knowing these sayings in the Zohar to be statements of a
universal law, the original Qabbalistic companions led an
ascetic and holy life, lest the mysterious and occult science
might prove injurious to all concerned.
After all, the most powerful enunciation of natures law
that spirituality cannot be combined with sexual indulgence
is contained in a masterpiece of Hebrew literature, namely in
the allegory of Adam and Eve and the serpent.
By the serpent the Jews typified the enemy of mankind.
And according to rabbinical tradition the serpent is the
symbol of the sexual passion. Hence the temptation by the
serpent characterizes mankind’s yielding to the sexual
impulse for self-gratification as its surrender to the
antagonist of higher human attainment.
The allegory of Adam [and Eve] being driven away from
the Tree of Life means, that the race abused the mystery of
life and dragged it down into the region of animalism and
bestiality.
This archaic Hebrew story records the fact that sexual
indulgence has caused humanity to be driven from paradise,
that is: from a purely spiritual manner of living. It teaches, by
deduction, that the only way to regain a paradisiacal spiritual
existence is along the path of sexual purification. This lesson
is the greatest gift of Judaism to the world.

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT

Let the state of the shining ones be obtained, in place of the
satisfying of the longing of lust.

ONLY A fragmentary knowledge has been uncovered about

ancient Egypt. But even from the fragments can the fact be
verified that the Egyptians possessed deep knowledge about
the evolutionary and the regenerative importance of sexual
continence.
 Their greatest spiritual leader was Thoth, better known as
Hermes, the name given to him by the Greeks. The Book of
Thoth, contained the secret processes by which the
regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished. It taught
that no man can be saved without regeneration, and that this
regeneration or spiritual rebirth is an escape from the
delusions of the body, which has with mass of matter blocked
the senses and crammed them full of loathsome lust. All that
in man is animal is more prone unto bad than unto good; and
where theres passion, nowhere is there good for where is
night, day is nowhere. Thus passions and desires are ills
exceeding great; but greatest ill of all is that each of these
things is thought down here to be the greatest good.
However, it is possible to free oneself from these ills
namely by continence, the power against desire. Just throw
out of work the body’s senses, and thy divinity shall come to
birth. Then passion and desire withdraw and thus it is that
man does speed thereafter upwards to the harmony. And
then the knowledge of joy has come, and on its coming
sorrow flees away. Thus taught Thrice-Greatest Hermes.
Other indications of similar knowledge can be found in the
Book of the Dead, which is the general body of texts having
reference to the burial of the dead and to the new life in the
world beyond the grave, which texts were in use among the
Egyptians since about B. C.
It contains such suggestive sections as: The chapter of
repulsing the serpent, and The chapter of a man not being
bitten by a serpent. It speaks of the serpent, coiled round a
lotus flower — this flower symbolizing man, for the deceased
is saying: I am the pure lotus.
In the chapter generally known as The Negative
Confession the person who has left the physical body appears
as an applicant for spiritual instruction. To prove his
worthiness he is saying: I have not, defiled my body, I have
not committed fornication, I have not polluted myself, I have
not lusted, nor have I done any other abominable thing; I am
pure, I am pure, I am pure.
 Triumphant sounds the announcement in another part of
the Book of the Dead: The Apophis is overthrown ! Now,
Apophis is the serpent, the symbol of human passions. Also
Apophis is the enemy of Ra (who is Light). The passions are
ever known as the enemies of spiritual enlightenment.
Thus taught the Book of the Dead; and accordingly the
destruction of the serpent, frequently occurs in the Egyptian
sculptures.
That the power of sexual purity was recognized in
ecclesiastic circles is proven by the fact that chastity and
purifications were common to all the Egyptian priests.
And that moreover the efficacy of abstinence was
popularly acknowledged becomes apparent when one reads
that when any king died all the inhabitants of Egypt united in
mourning for him for seventy-two days, and no one would
have dared to indulge in sexual intercourse during that time.
Thus in ancient Egypt as elsewhere was abstinence from
sexual acts known to have an efficacious influence extending
far beyond the physical realm.

HINDUISM
Spiritual wisdom is the fruit of indifference to sensual
pleasures.

THE SACRED books of the Hindus, which originated in more

ancient times than any other known records, contain an
inexhaustible store of wisdom. All of the most profound
religious and spiritually philosophic ideas of the Occident as
well as of the Orient can be traced back to this source. In the
whole world there is no study so beneficial and so elevating as
that of the Upanishads; and these themselves are but
commentaries on the still deeper Vedas.
From the earliest Vedic age Hindu thought turned to,
annihilations of the carnal desires. Even in immemorial times
the fact was well known that only through a chaste fife can a
student find the sacred knowledge. A command over our
passions, is declared by the Vedas to be indispensable in the
minds approximation to the divine. Sexual purity was held to
be so imperative for an understanding of things spiritual that
several of the Upanishads close with a remark to the effect
that the supreme mystery of the Vedas is not to be declared to
those whose senses are not subdued.
To grow up to be a worthy member of his caste the young
Hindu was given in full charge of a guru (teacher) , who
considered it a most fortunate circumstance if he found in his
pupil a natural aptitude for the pure life, since only he who is,
ever pure reaches the goal. Neither the study of the Vedas,
nor austerities ever procure attainment to one whose heart is
contaminated by sensuality. During the whole period of
apprenticeship, which lasted until after his twentieth year,
the youth was bound by vow to the Rules of Studentship, one
of the strictest of which reads: He shall preserve his chastity.
Those who wished to devote themselves to the highest
possible spiritual existence preserved their undefiled juvenile
chastity through the rest of life. An outstanding modern
example of this was the saintly Ramakrishna, who in the
nineteenth century taught and exemplified a return to the
original rules of purity of orthodox Hinduism. He was a
triumphant example, a living realization of the complete
conquest of lust. And long before him many thousands, who
were chaste from their youth have gone to highest heaven
without continuing the race. Also for the women whose
temperament induced them to remain single and unmarried
the life of the celibate was open in the same way as for the
men; there were female ascetics as well as male.
But for the majority the student period was followed by
that of a householder. The adult, to discharge his duty to
society, must beget children, not only that the race might be
continued but also that bodies might be supplied by parents
devoted to the ideal of the religious or philosophic life, so that
advanced souls might find birth in favorable conditions. This
is the ancient rule laid down by the Manu of the Aryan
Hindus.
The Laws of Manu were given by this great teacher of the
Aryan race for the training of a nation of energetic, powerful,
nobly mannered and dignified men. In their marriage great
temperance in sexual relations was enjoined by these laws,
practically intended to restrict sexual congress as closely as
possible to procreative purposes only. Wise and grand, far-
seeing and morally beneficent are the laws of Manu on
connubial life, when compared with the license tacitly
allowed to man in [so-called] civilized countries. Based on
these laws the noblest ideal of married life ever given to the
world is found in Hinduism, of husband and wife drawn
together by spiritual affinity rather than by fleshly desire, and
joined for spiritual growth.
After the service to the race was accomplished, after the
children grew up, the parents were free to go into seclusion,
taking up the life in the forest, husband and wife, leading
there a life of peaceful contemplation, and
delighting in what refers to the soul, entirely abstaining from
sensual pleasures.
Thus the life of the spiritually-minded Hindu was normally
passed in an ideal way, in a series of gradually intensifying
ascetic stages, through which he was more and more purified
from all earthly attachment, The entire history of mankind
has not produced much that approaches in grandeur to this
thought. And back of it, always, is the conviction that, to
become perfect, the sex idea must go.

BUDDHISM
Cut down the whole forest of lust! When you have cut
down every tree and every shrub, then you will be
free!
NOWHERE CLEARER, stronger, or more persistently has
perfect chastity been exhorted than in the teachings of the
Buddha. The Buddhas foremost aim was to lead human
beings to salvation by teaching them to all practice the
greatest purity.
Buddhism, in its origin at least, is an offshoot of
Hinduism, which had already proclaimed the ideal of the
purified life. But at the time of the Buddha, the purer Vedic
teaching was smothered under a mass of fables, Rite and
ceremonial were all. Moral life suffered since metaphysical
subtleties, absorbed the energies of the people. Even those of
the priestly caste, the Brahmanas, had fallen into the power of
sensual pleasures.
Under such conditions it was the task of the Buddha to
provide a firm foundation for morality. He reaffirmed the
ancient ideal, the essence, consisting in spiritual
development. In himself we have a seer of the highest, most
developed spiritual power, who believed in the liberating
influence of ethical discipline.
However, in our days as in those of the Buddha, his
doctrine will not be easily understood by beings that are lost
in lust. Such as these will hardly be found willing to
acknowledge that when a person has not got rid of, the
attraction to lusts, he has not yet broken through the first
bondage in which the spirit is held.
Buddhism regards sensuality as altogether incompatible
with wisdom, with that intuitive spiritual knowledge which is
the greatest treasure of man. Only when we have the deeper
illumination born of moral life we shall have the true
enlightenment, the true wisdom. Only he who knows that
lusts have a short taste and cause pain, is wise.
Hence the life of chastity is lived, for the purpose of
insight and thorough knowledge. Yet not for this purpose
only, but also for the sake of properly making an end of
misery.

More attractive than wisdom to most people is happiness and
liberation from suffering.
On this the Buddhas teachings are particularly
concentrated. How to free mankind from misery was the
ultimate purpose of his searchings, and it is the essential part
of his message. To be sure, he did not offer any cheap relief,
There is no appeal to human selfishness, for Buddhism
demands a rigorous renunciation of all the pleasures most
men care for. However it not only takes away, it provides an
irreplaceable substitute for what is so taken, a substitute in
the form of the superb joy that goes with freedom from
suffering.
Having found that the origin of misery is desire, especially
desire for sensual pleasure, the Buddha taught that the noble
truth of the cessation of misery, is the complete fading out of
this desire. From him who overcomes this fierce thirst,
sufferings fall off like water-drops from a lotus leaf. Therefore
if one longs for happiness, let him cast off all desires; for only
he who delights in purity, gradually arrives at felicity.
Freedom from lust, this truly is the highest happiness. Those
who are set free through the entire destruction of craving,
only they have attained the ideal.
It was not to his advanced disciples alone, not for the
monks alone, but for the sake of all who would free
themselves from misery and attain the greatest possible
happiness, that the Buddha said: I proclaim the annihilation
of lust, I teach the doing away with lust.
Often heard is the criticism that in the concept of Nirvana
the Buddha taught total annihilation. But Nirvana does not
mean a complete blowing out of the individual soul, but
rather, the subsiding of all human passions.
In regard to this the Buddha has stated: It is true that I
preach extinction, but only the extinction of, lust.
One need not have his mortal body die to avoid the
clutches of concupiscence. When the inward fires of lust are
extinguished, then one has entered into Nirvana, This is the
Lesson of Lessons.

INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
When a man follows, the way of the body, true wisdom is not
born within him.

MANS never-ceasing effort to, raise himself above the level

of the beast to a moral and spiritual height finds a striking
illustration in India — not only in its religions but also in its
great philosophical systems, towards which many of the
foremost thinkers of the Occident have turned for
inspiration. Even the loftiest philosophy of the Europeans,
appears faltering and feeble in comparison with the
abundant light and vigor of the Oriental idealism.
Philosophy in India as elsewhere stands apart from
religious creed and doctrine, from devotions and other
observances; but in common with the highest aspect of all
religion philosophy in India is essentially spiritual. It is
recommended not as with us for the sake of knowledge, but
for the highest purpose that man can strive after in this life,
which is a realization of spiritual understanding.
This it seeks to attain through contemplation, for which a
clarified mind is deemed indispensable. For the purpose of
preparing the mind to grasp the deepest abstract conceptions
its profound systems have always contained simple, morally
uplifting maxims for practical application, in which the basic
idea has never been lost sight of that ethical perfection is the
first step towards spiritual knowledge.
Above all, strikingly noticeable, is the sublimity with
which, Indian philosophy expatiates upon and demands the
removal of sensuality. The ancient philosophers of India,
preached as with a voice of thunder to subdue the passions of
the senses. They call lust and temptation, the sharks in the
river of life, and remark that he who rejoices in the objects of
senses and passions is like a thirsty man drinking poison to
quench his thirst. They hold that the pleasures that are
contact-born, not in these may engage the wise. And in their
flowery way they state that as the dawning of the day is
simultaneous with the passing of the night, so is the dawning
of true knowledge simultaneous with the passing of desire.
A person who would bring his mind into a fit state for
contemplation must be devoid of desire and observe
invariably continence; for only the mind of those who have
controlled their senses can attain the spiritual regions? In
this direction ones very aspiration, is stifled by the net of
unspiritual desires.
Through spiritual realization every school of Indian
philosophy seeks liberation from the limits of painful
existence. In almost identical language they agree that
liberation is nothing but the cessation of the impediments;
and since passion in every form is pointed out as one of the
strongest impediments, it is evident that he who is affected
with passions cannot obtain liberation.
Fascination by the body, is the great death for him who is
seeking liberation. If you long ardently for liberation, put
sensuous desires away°, for just as fire when fed with fuel
blazes forth, so ones appetites are never satiated by
indulgence but are only increased by every gratification.
The leading systems of philosophy in India all undertake
to supply the means of knowing the nature of the Supreme
Being. But in doing so they call attention to the fact that one
who is drawn to earthly pleasures can never see Brahma.
Only if freed from passion, and purified in the fire of
wisdom, men have entered into a realization of the Supreme.
Only when one cherishes no desire, then is one said to have
attained to the state of Brahma.
In still another respect all the leading systems of Indian
philosophy are alike: they always promise, the attainment of
the highest bliss that can be attained by man. This consists in
the felicity which arises from the
destruction of all desire. And since everything comes to the
purified, such felicity surely comes to one, whose passions
and desires are subdued. Unfailingly those who have
discarded all pleasures of the senses, attain the supreme
bliss.
All of which shows that Indian philosophers, who with
unparalleled sagacity and profundity have reasoned the
matter out, come to the one conclusion: that for all spiritual
attainment one must, free oneself from sensuality, one must
become pure.

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
To be guileless and pure, this is the way to nourish the spirit.
THE WAY to a spiritualized existence, which has always been
the subject of every uplifting philosophy as well as of religion,
has long been known in China as the Tao.
Chinas philosophers discussed the Tao many centuries
before any sign of culture existed amongst white races. For
what Lao-Tzu, Confucius and others taught about six
centuries B.C. was but a systematized compilation of what
some of their forefathers already had been thinking and
teaching through several generations. Confuciuss own
acknowledgement that he was a transmitter and not a maker,
is well known; and as to Lao Tzu, there was a Taoism earlier
than his.
If China, the land of the crouching dragon, had absorbed
the spiritual sunlight that floods the Tao, and by a
concentration of its rays had withered the dragon of the
senses, it could have become the worlds center of spiritual
enlightenment. It would have been exemplifying the highest
sexual ethics.
Even as it is, the educated classes among the Chinese exalt
and deify chastity as a means of bringing soul and body
nearer to the highest excellence — not only for the women,
but it is held up as an ideal even to men. The reason why all
men are not able to attain to this is that their minds have not
been cleansed, and that their desires have not been sent
away. Therefore during all hours of the day let ones thoughts
be constantly fixed on absolute purity. Purity is that in which
the spirit is not impaired.T
As to desires, no food is better for the heart than few
desires. Where lusts and desires are deep, the springs of the
heavenly are shallow; but if you keep your body as it should
be, the harmony of heaven will come to you.
For this reason the superior man, guards against lust. Only
he who is desireless can sound the deep spiritual mystery of
things.
Having found the Tao, having become spiritualized, the
superior man does not say [in regard to desires] it is my
nature. He does not try to find excuses for acts which are
inimical to his stage of development. He knows too well that
the spirit of man loves purity, and that sensuality is the chief
of vices. Therefore the wise man, puts away indulgence.
The men who understand the Tao do so simply by means
of absolute purity; for only he who has this absolute purity
enters gradually into the true Tao. Hence it is he who can
embody purity whom we call the true man.
These few quotations from Chinese philosophical writings
show how they, too, contain the same basic insight which is
found everywhere else — namely that purity, gives the
correct law to all.

GREEK AND ROMAN PHILOSOPHY

THE GREATEST of the Greek and Roman philosophers

based their opinions on secret teachings. These they had
obtained either through direct super physical contacts and
experiences, as did for instance Plotinue; or through
initiation in the Ancient Mysteries, as in the case of Plato and
of Iamblichuss; or by going like Pythagoras and Apolloniuss
to the centers of transcendental learning in India and in
Egypt.
Others absorbed such knowledge indirectly from the
teachers around whom they gathered. Thus the ancients
touched a source of metaphysical and of spiritual
information to which later philosophers have rarely had
access. This touch has given the indisputably lasting value to
their writings; and it is the reason why there is an ascetic
element in all the great philosophies of the past. Almost
without exception they offer cathartic teachings for practical
soul-development.
From Pythagoras to Proclus, who lived a thousand years
apart, there is an ever recurring insistance on purification as
a means of attaining to a superior human existence. And
most of the teachers knew the value of such purification from
their own experience, from what they themselves had
attained by striving to exemplify it in their own lives.
The whole school of Pythagoras made chastity one of its
leading virtues.T The main end and design of his philosophy
was to disengage the mind from the bonds of the body, and
to free the soul from the fetters of sense. This is evident from
his exhortation: Fight and overcome thy foolish passions, be
sober and chaste. He and his followers considered that
continence precedes the acquisition of every good, and that it
is impossible for the same person to be a lover of body and of
divinity. The life represented by the thralldom of the senses
the Pythagoreans conceived to be spiritual death, while they
regarded death to the sense-world as spiritual life.
Of sexual indulgence Pythagoras said that it is always
harmful and not conducive to health. And once when he was
asked when one might indulge in sex he replied : whenever
you want to be weaker than yourself.` In the first place, we
should not have sexual connection for the sake of pleasure,
but only for the sake of begetting children. For nature
produced the seed for the sake of producing children, and
not for the sake of lust.
 The best known of the later Neo-Pythagoreans,
Apollonius of Tyana, lived a life of celibacy. While yet a mere
youth, in full bodily vigor, he mastered the maddening
passion. Without this accomplishment it would have been
impossible for him to show all through life such a remarkable
degree of spiritual attainment. So successful was he in this
respect that after his death his name was invoked as a being
of superhuman powers?
About Socrates we have the declaration by one of his own
disciples that his great continence was known to every one.
Others have said that he could never be persuaded that ones
felicity was placed in the enjoyment of corporeal delights. He
rebuked the licentiousness of his age continually, and sought
to shield his disciples from its contamination. So long as they
were with him they found in him an ally who gave them
strength to conquer their passions.
He exhorted his companions to all practice self-control in
the matter of sexual indulgence. Of sensual passion he would
say: avoid it resolutely; it is not easy to control yourself once
you meddle with that sort of thing. And his own self-control
was shown by his deeds yet more clearly than by his words.
All told, the Socratic philosophy, bids the heart turn from
the temporal to the eternal; and it does so, by sublimating
erotic passion.
Plato, the greatest exponent of Socratic philosophy,
naturally offers much material for a work which is essentially
ultra-platonic. Therefore quotations from his writings occur
in several sections of this book. Far from advocating or
upholding any yielding to the bodys impulses Plato describes
how the man who restrains passions, is led to the goal. And
he himself refrained from all venereal pleasure through love
of contemplation of truth.
He based his moral system upon the distinction between
the bodily or sensual and the spiritual part of our nature. The
latter he called the soul, and he never for a moment
assumed, that the body could be important enough to receive
consideration ahead of the soul.
Nature orders the soul to rule and the body to serve. But
in far too many people, unfortunately, the body is the grave
of the soul. Since the body is always breaking in upon us,
causing turmoil and confusion, we make the nearest
approach to wisdom when we, are not surfeited with the
bodily nature but keep ourselves pure. Hence especially a
philosopher will calm his passions; by no means, ought a
philosopher to care about the pleasures — if they are to be
called pleasures — of sex.
Plato makes an idealistic effort to find a way to make
men, abstain from intentionally destroying the seeds of
human increase, or from sowing them in stony places in
which they will take no root. This ideal of Platos, carried out
in all its logical consequences, is identical with the one
presented in the volume in hand. For only when the physical
expression of sex is limited to propagation is there no
intentional destruction and waste of seed.
To Aristotle, the great independent thinker, is ascribed a
volume written for Alexander the Great, whose tutor he had
been. In it he advises to avoid the inclinations to animalistic
pleasure, for, such pleasure brings with it stains on the soul.
Do not yield to the desire for sexual intercourse, for what
glory is it, to follow the action of brutes? Moreover, sexual
intercourse involves the destruction of our bodies, the
shortening of life. The self-restrained man stands firm
against passion.
Cicero the eclectic, culled from every accessible
philosophy those elements which were regarded as most
helpful for the higher life. He found that nothing is more
hostile to this, than sensual pleasure. Such pleasure,
extinguishes completely the light of the soul. In fact, he avers
that there is no more deadly curse, than carnal pleasure.
Therefore we should be made to understand, how noble it
is to live with abstinence.
 Even Epicurus popularly supposed to be the apostle of
pleasure, of any form of pleasure as the highest good —
taught that no one was ever the better for sexual indulgence,
and it is an exception if he be not the worse. And he stated
that all such desires as lead to no pain when they remain
ungratified are unnecessary, and the longing is easily got rid
of.
This last statement strikingly coincides with Platos saying
that the desires of which one may get rid, of which the
presence does no good, and in some cases the reverse of
good, are unnecessary. Both statements definitely apply to
sexual desires, the un-fulfillment of which in normal cases
leads to no pain and which can be overcome with little
effort.
In every way Epicurean ethics rise much higher than the
ethics of mere pleasure. Epicurus himself wrote. When we
say that pleasure is the end and aim, we do not mean the
pleasures of sensuality, as we are understood to do by some
through ignorance, prejudice or willful misrepresentation.
Even in his own days he was misinterpreted by the seekers
of body-pleasures.
Only in misconstrued and popularized form has
Epicureanism been turned into a doctrine inculcating bodily
satisfaction. In essence the Epicurean philosophy is one of
pure joy, more than of impure pleasure.

According to the Stoics the passion of lust is a craving

from which good men are free. The stoic ideal was
passionlessness. Stoicism, in placing the happiness of life in
intellectual and moral action, destroys the temptation of
sensual gratification.
Zeno, founder of the stoic system of thought, defined
passion, as irrational and unnatural, or as impulse in excess.
And his disciple Chrysippus said that the cause of
disharmony and of an unhappy life is that men follow, the
lower animal principle and let it run away with them.
 Seneca, foremost amongst the Stoics, reiterated that
sexual desire has been given to man not for the gratification
of pleasure but for the continuance of the human race. When
once you have escaped the violence of this secret destruction
implanted in your very vitals, every other desire will pass you
by unharmed. Carnal pleasure is a low act, brought about by
the agency of our inferior and baser members. It is short, and
apt to pall upon us, There is nothing grand about it, nothing
worthy of a mans nature. All told, passions are objectionable
impulses. There await us, if ever we escape from these low
dregs peace of mind and perfect liberty.
Epictetus, another Stoic, declared that what you give to
your body you presently lose, but what you give to the soul
remains forever. Therefore you must altogether control
desire, and aspire to converse in purity with your own pure
mind. Chastise your passions that they may not chastise you.
You will be free when you deliver yourself from appetite.
And Marcus Aurelius called attention to what revolting
creatures men are in sexual intercourse. He stated that the
pleasures of sexual love are derived from the most grossly
animalistic causes, and advised to put aside, all accretions
born of the fleshly affections. He warned against allowing the
spiritual part to be defeated by, the body with its gross
pleasures, and urged one never to be overpowered either by
the senses or the appetites, for both are animal.
A fresh stimulus to asceticism was found in the
neoplatonic philosophy.
Plotinus for instance requires a purification of being, a
complete alienation of desire from external things. If the
friend of unclean pleasures, living a life of abandonment to
bodily sensation, is to win back his grace, it must be his
business to scour and purify himself. Let the soul but be
cleared of the desires that come by its too intimate converse
with the body and be emancipated from all the passions. The
pleasure demanded for the sages life cannot be in, any
gratifications of the body, for these stifle happiness.
 Porphyry, most eminent disciple of Plotinus, held that
venereal connections are attended with defilement. All ven-
ery pollutes. Surely the gods do not hear him who invokes
them if he is impure from venereal connections. If we wish to
liberate ourselves from the fetters of the corporeal nature we
must withdraw, from the passions. To worthy men abstinence
from corporeal pleasures is appropriate.
Iamblichus, pupil of Porphyry, remarked that a venereal
connection proceeds, not from divine necessity.
And Proclus, last of the Neo-Platonists, postulated that
the one salvation of the soul is, a flight from every thing
which adheres to us from generation, since such a flight alone
cuts off and obliterates the passions.
Now, some will peremptorily reject whatever the ancients
have said, claiming that none of it is applicable to modern,
changed conditions.
But the subject of their philosophy, man, is not much
changed. And for an understanding of human nature we are
still very largely dependent, as they were, upon introspection,
general observation and intuition. Of all these factors the
ancients, in their less turbulent existence, could make much
better use than we who live in an age of speed and feverish
excitement and exclusive preoccupation with materialistic
interests.
In our concentration upon the physical changes which
science and sociology bring about, we are apt to forget that
beyond all worldly changes there remain the unchanging laws
of nature. The laws which not only keep the stars in their
courses, but which regulate the evolution of microcosm as
well as of macrocosm, are as immutable and eternal as ever.
And also the result of any violation of these laws is still the
same as it was in the days of the Greek and Roman
philosophers. And they, the sages of former times knew more
about the fundamental laws of nature than is admitted today.
Hence their opinions about men and morals are basic, and
thereby as relevant and pertinent now as when first
promulgated. The unanimity of their expostulations against
sexual gratifications forms a valuable link in the chain of
evidence in favor of the ideal of purification.

MODERN PHILOSOPHY
How much more are, the perceiver and obeyer of truth than
the foolish and sensual millions around them

THE ERA of ancient philosophy faded out into the dark ages
of mental and spiritual stupor. During that period of lethargy
the component elements of the philosophy of the ancients —
mind and spirit — fell apart. When the dawn of
enlightenment broke through again, the spiritual element
had been absorbed by mysticism, while the mental part,
uniting with science, developed into modern philosophy.
Basing itself on material facts, and vaguely speculating
upon non-material things, modern philosophy lacks spiritual
knowledge and also lacks directions for the acquisition of
such knowledge. In the involved mental gymnastics of
modern philosophy there is little place for idealistic moral
considerations. Especially — as system follows system, each
offering a different set of intricate conjectures — rarely a
word is said about the need of sexual purification for
evolutionary growth. On the contrary the most modern,
more and more materialistic systems are if anything
antagonistic to the ideal of such purification. The domestic
relations of human beings are reduced by the behavioristic
theory to the mere means of securing sexual gratification;
and under the naturalistic view love, is merely the borrowing
of a temporary bodily gratification.
And so they wander further amid the mazes of error and
imagine vain philosophies, wallowing in the sloughs of
materialism and sensualism.
Yet here and there, sporadically, one finds a touch of
spiritual insight, a recognition such as by Emerson that
spiritual is stronger than any material force; or such
statements as Santayanas that mortal spirits, in so far as they
free themselves from false respect for animal passion, may
behold finite being in its purity, and that spirituality is
conditioned by, a temperament disciplined into chastity and
renunciation.
Then there is Eucken with his philosophy of the spirit,
who realizes that within humanity there is an endeavor to free
the life of the soul from the bondage of sense, and that all
human morality must have its basis in, the spiritual life.
Also it is not so long ago that Sidgwick wrote: It is agreed
that the sexual appetite ought never to be indulged for the
sake of sensual gratification. At about the same time Solovyof
emphasized that the flesh is strong only in the weakness of
the spirit°, and that supremacy of the spirit over the flesh is
necessary in order to preserve the moral dignity of man.
In the seventeenth century Spinoza founded one of the
first schools of modern philosophy. He gave us a system of
morals which is the supreme achievement of modern
thought. He posited that chastity, is not a passive state but
indicates a power of the mind. And from personal experience
he declared that the true good becomes more and more
discernible, after one recognizes that sensual pleasure is only
a hindrance.
Shortly before Spinozas time Descartes had taught that
the principal use of self-control is that it teaches us to be
masters of our passions; and that when the passions urge us
we ought to divert ourselves by other thoughts, until time and
rest shall have entirely calmed the emotion which is in the
blood.
In that same period Charron declared that the hindrance
to wisdom which a man must carefully avoid, is the confusion
of his passions.

Outstanding in the eighteenth century is Kant. The

morality which Kant enforces is of a strong and manly type.
His maxim was sustine et abstine (sustain and abstain); his
practice illustrated this.

He made it clear that in contrast to bodily pleasures the

more refined enjoyments, do not wear out but rather
increase the capacity of further enjoyment; and while they
delight they at the same time cultivate. The essence of Kants
moral teachings is contained in his statement that first, it is a
mans duty to raise himself, out of his animal nature.
Perhaps the day will soon come when a disintegrating
civilization will welcome again the Kantian call. His is but a
repetition of the call of the ages sent out to floundering
mankind in ever varying form.
Comte, the first really consistent social philosopher of the
nineteenth century, again assigned to asceticism its full
rights.
In his positive system of philosophy he explained how
positivism teaches, that sexual purity has a close connection
with the physical and intellectual improvement of the
individual and of the race. As planned by him education will
make all feel the defects of the sexual impulse, and will raise
a hope of its entire desuetude. For it is possible to effect the
inaction of this impulse, now stimulated unduly by the brain,
and to attain this result with ease. In fact the requirements to
which this impulse relates can be so easily reduced that it is
more susceptible of modification than any other.
To control the sexual impulse efficiently has always been
and ever will be regarded as the highest test of human
wisdom. Philosophers really untrammeled by superstition
ought more and more to look upon that impulse as tending
to interfere with the true purpose of the vivifying fluid, which
has as its chief purpose the supply to the blood of a
stimulating element, capable of invigorating the action of all
the organs. In these words Comte showed his understanding
of the transmutability of the sex force and of the enormous
evolutionary importance of that transmutation.
 Also in the nineteenth century Schopenhauer
promulgated his views about the will to live, by which he
practically meant: the will to live a materialistic and worldly
life.
He considered that the greatest, most important and
most significant phenomenon that the world can show is the
quiet, unobserved life of one who has attained to the
knowledge in consequence of which he denies the will to
live. His body may express the sexual impulse, but he
desires no sensual gratification under any condition. One
who has thus attained to the denial of the will to live is filled
with inward joy, It is a peace that cannot be shaken, a state
infinitely surpassing everything else. But voluntary and
complete chastity is the first step in the denial of the will to
live.
Once one begins to see the enviable results obtainable by
this denial one cannot but agree with Schopenhauer that the
sexual impulse appears as a malevolent demon that strives
to pervert, confuse and overthrow everything.
A serious historical investigation shows the bond between
the ascetic ideal and philosophy. . . It was only in the leading
strings of this ideal that philosophy really learned to make
its first steps. So said Nietzsche.
A distaste for the lower gratifications of the senses and a
deliberate judgement that, the spiritual faculties should be
cultivated at the expense of the animal propensities, have
ever been evidenced in the lives of philosophers. At least the
true philosopher has always felt the necessity of sexual
purity, for he sees therein an optimum of the conditions of
the highest and boldest intellectuality.
Wherever philosophers have existed there exists a real
irritation and rancor on their part towards sensuality, There
similarly exists a real philosophic affection for the whole
ascetic ideal, If a philosopher lacks both, then he is you may
be certain of it — never anything but a pseudo.
In the true philosopher this ascetic attitude is the
outcome of the ingrain, intuitive insight that spiritual
wisdom and cognition of truth are not attainable without the
annihilation of every remnant of sensuality.

MODERNISTIC SOPHISTRY
We must regard as accomplices of the snake all who try to tell
us that happiness is to be found in the range of bodily
impulse.

CHARACTERISTIC OF the modern mind is its concentration

on materialistic values, its contemptuous attitude towards
morality, its juggling with spurious science, its jabbering of
philosophistry. In its conceit and its ignorance of spiritual
verities it considers its own ideas superior to the wisdom of
all times. The latter it decries as obsolete, as antiquated and
outworn pedantry of bygone ages, not fitted to the
popularized new knowledge and the new conditions of the
present day and age. Yet, in so far as sexual morals are
concerned, the central thought about this newness of
knowledge and of conditions is focussed on nothing but the
general availability of means of contraception.
In reality there is no such thing as obsolescence of the
spiritual essence of philosophy, because this is not subject to
the shifting changes of material and social conditions; and
there is no out-of-dateness of cosmic principles, or of verities
upon which rests the wisdom of the sages and deep thinkers
of all times.
The modernist restricts his field of vision by his negation
of spirit, by limiting his attention to physical laws and to
materialistic mind. This self-willed limitation in itself causes
incompleteness and imperfection, therefore misjudgment and
fallacy in his deductions and opinions. Whereas all great
thinkers always have sought to understand and contact spirit;
and it is this underlying element that has given the deeper
value to their writings. The works of the ancient sages will be
quoted and reprinted, and _their ideas and ideals will still be
recognized as fundamentally true, long after the gaudy bubble
of modernistic sophistry has burst and ended its short-lived
spectacular existence.
Naturally the ultra-moderns prefer to gather around
those whom they have adopted as their own new prophets,
who cleverly cloak animal desire in words that make it seem
respectable. They center all their thoughts upon the
pleasures of the body, in the belief that for its sake man has
come into being; they set up for the animal appetite and
openly declare that, the chief good is what affords best
entertainment to the senses.
The modern world has assumed almost as a matter of
course that the human passions, by their fulfillment achieve
happiness. As one of its apostles asserts: animals we are and
animals we remain, and the path to our regeneration and
happiness, if there be such a path, lies through our animal
nature. Certainly, those who choose to remain animals will
always have plenty of reason to doubt the existence of a path
to regeneration and happiness, for it can never be found
through the animal nature! Happiness is to be found, in the
development of the highest faculties at the expense of those
less noble. Moreover, man is destined to be a human being
and not an animal; and, to be human he must do away with
the animal in him, by restraining his animal impulses.
But the common cult of the day is that a man should
follow his impulses without restraint. Modem morality is no
more than a surrender to the wishes and moods of the
individual. Love, has been reduced to the raw realism of a sex
experience. A sordid and ignoble realism offers no resistance
to the sexual impulse. To the demon of sex, the human
conscience of our day answers, Silibet. (If you desire it, you
may). And this self-assertive self-indulgence is taught to be
the way to self-realization! But real self-realization consists
not in the exercise of elemental passions, but in their
sublimation.
 Under the influence of modem sophistry any spiritual
ideal is disdainfully derided as a puerile superstition; and
chastity, the principal foundation of moral firmness, has
become a subject of ridicule. Self-condemnatory, self-
destructive even is this disesteem and disregard of chastity;
for the society in which its estimation sinks to a minimum is
in the last stages of degeneration.
The cultural behavior of any human society depends, on
the state of energy into which, as the result of its sexual
regulations, the society has arrived. If we increase pre-nuptial
and post-nuptial sexual opportunity, our mental and social
energy will decline. If sexual freedom is the rule, there can be
no such energy, and the race must fall from its cultural level.
Therefore the new-fashioned naturalism in relation to all
matters of sex, betokens the definite closing down of
civilization.

MYTHOLOGY
Take the sword and unite the serpent.

No MYTHOLOGICAL system has yet been discovered which

can be entirely separated from all dependence on noble ideas.
Even the most phantastic of myths are expressions of an
inner reality. The higher truths are invested in myths.
One of the highest truths that is contained in myths of
almost every country is the fact that human passion must be
overcome before spirituality can be developed. Mythologically
expressed, inner development proceeds well if the hero
defeats the dragon.
In mythology the dragon is equivalent to the serpent. For
instance in the Chaldean account of creation it is a dragon
that leads man to sin, just as the serpent does in the biblical
presentation. In many myths and legends the dragon is
merely the idealized serpent.T
 Generally the serpent, is the treasure-guarding dragon of
the myth. The fruit of a perfect life, is guarded by the dragon
of mans lower nature; it does not want humanity to obtain
that fruit, consisting in invaluable spiritual unfoldment,
because then its own power over man comes to an end.
Only over the animals dead body can that treasure be
acquired. Man must slay the dragon by means of his divine
power of will — which is usually symbolically represented by
sword or spear. In some myths the treasure guarded by the
dragon is a spring of magic water, the source and fountain-
head of spiritual refreshment and rejuvenation.
Most of the narratives about treasure-guarding dragons
have come down through the ages in such embellished and
modified forms that the true meaning hardly can be
recognized. But the fact that the struggle-with-a-dragon
episode occurs in the myths of many nations indicates that it
is a universal symbol for one single truth. This truth is: the
necessity of subduing the lower nature before acquiring the
spiritual powers, and before attaining union with the higher
nature, with spirit — which is frequently represented in
mythological symbology by the kings daughter or a sleeping
maiden.
In India the deed which won Indra his high place was the
feat of slaying the dragon, lying on the waters which Indra
thus released. Trita, this mighty hero was likewise the slayer
of a dragon. According to Hindu tradition Krishnas first great
war was with a mighty serpent. Highly significant are the two
sculptures of Krishna suffering and of Krishna triumphant, In
the former a youthful figure is shown enfolded by the coils of
an enormous serpent; in the latter Krishna is represented as
trampling upon the serpents head. The highest constructive
will power in the universe, Vishnu, enabled Krishna to
overcome the serpent. Among ancient Buddhist sculptures
there is a suggestive representation of Buddha as the
conqueror of desire, seated on a coiled serpent. This serpent
is in possession of many secrets which he divulges only to the
one who conquers him. The secret of life itself will be revealed
when the phallic serpent is vanquished.
Not only Krishna and Buddha in India, but everywhere
else all of those called saviors are said to have crushed the
serpents head, in other words: to have conquered the sensual
nature. It is but natural that the same accomplishment has
been ascribed to many saints. However it would be tedious to
enumerate the number of saints who figure as dragon-slayers.
To give only a single instance, Saint Michael . • . fought
against the dragon, And the great dragon, that old serpent
which deceives the whole world, was cast out.
In China Thienhoang, softened the ferocity of man, after
the great dragon which disturbed the whole world had been
slain. In Persia Thraetona smote Azi Dahaka (literally: the
fiendish snake), which Angra Mainyu created to destroy the
world of the good principle. In Assyria it was with a flaming
sword, that Merodach overthrew the dragon. In Phoenicia
Cadmus, drawing his sword, rushed at the dragon, which had
been set to guard the fountain of enchanted water, so that no
mortal might quench his thirst there — at least not until
having overcome the dragon which devoured Cadmus men as
passion still does devour people.
In ancient Mexico one finds a description of the serpent,
crushed by the great Teotl. In primitive Mexican paintings the
figure of a man contending with a dragon is often seen; and
there are also representations of a human figure encoiled by a
serpent, undoubtedly symbolizing humanity in the power of
passion.
In Egypt Typhon is the part of the soul that is subject to
the passions. He was figured under the symbol of a serpent;
and the destruction of the serpent by Horus who pierces its
head with a spear, frequently occurs in the sculptures. It was
also in Egypt that Hermes released the princess lo by
overcoming the monster Argus with his sword, and that
Anubis is represented as slaying a dragon.
In Grecian mythology Apollo killed the Python, a
monstrous serpent produced by the earth, the embodiment of
humanity's earthly passions. Perseus, went forth to fight
against the dragon of the sea at Joppa; he slew the monster,
before celebrating his union with Andromeda, the kings
daughter, symbolizing the soul. And Hercules had contests
with serpents and dragons. His consummating glory was the
conquest of the dragon which guarded the golden fruit in the
garden of the Hesperides.° Thereby he obtained that fruit, the
true gold of life, consisting in the mastery of the passions.
In Scandinavian countries the dragon is, the greedy
withholder of good things from men; and the slaying of a
dragon is the crowning achievement of heroes, of men as near
perfection as the popular mind can imagine. For example
Thor fought with the Midgard serpent.
This serpent, seems to have been intended as an emblem of
corruption. It had grown so greatly that it, encompassed all
the land, presenting a striking picture of passions grasp on
humanity. In having its greatest hero slay the serpent
Scandinavian mythology exhibits a clear sentiment, on the
subject of purity.
Elsewhere in a renowned epic one reads about a certain
dragon, which kept watch over a treasure. But Beowulf, smote
the hideous-gleaming foe with his weighty sword. The horrid
earth-dragon was bereft of life. No longer could the coiled
serpent rule over the treasure hoards. That is to say, after
passion had been killed the spiritual treasure became
available for the hero.
Englands patron Saint George drove his sword into the
dragons throat; then he pinned the mighty bulk of the dragon
to the earth with his spear. A Sussex legend relates how Saint
Leonard saw the dragon Sin, and crushed the monster. Celtic
lore contains a story about Gray Lad who clutched his sword
and cut off the dragons head, whereupon the kings daughter
came out to meet him — that is, again, he was united with his
spiritual nature.
In Germany the most famous dragon slayer is Siegfried.
With Wotans sword which he reestablishes from the stubborn
splinters (in other words: with the divine will which he
restores out of human stubbornness and willfulness) , he Ells
the dragon that guards the Rhinegold, which only he who
passions power forswears and from delights of love forbears
can mould. After killing the dragon, Siegfried understands
the language of the woodbird, the voice of intuition, which
leads him to Brunhilde, his higher self. Clearer than any other
legend does the story of Siegfried show that the treasure of
spiritual consciousness remains a useless trinket until the
truly human entity acquires it after slaying the dragon of
sensuality.
Whether in each case clearly expressed or not, all the
myths about dragon-killers picture the terrible struggles,
between man and his Personified human passions. Foremost
among these passions, foremost as an obstruction to the
acquisition of incalculable spiritual treasure, is the tendency
to abuse the sex force. That is the dragon or serpent which
keeps humanity away from an existence of pure spiritual joy.
So long as its urgings are obeyed, man cannot reach his
glorious evolutionary destiny. This serpent must be seen in its
true dimensions; it must be met and conquered with
adequate power of will. But it often seems as though every
one considers his serpent an ant.
The central object of all self-mastery is first to overcome
the serpent, or its equivalent, the dragon. When the dragon is
conquered a valuable treasure, namely an enormous psychic
energy, is liberated. With this energy it becomes possible to
climb toward the highest peaks of human and of superhuman
attainment.

ANCIENT MYSTERIES

In the mystic rites initiated, life's best delight I place in

chastity alone.
THE MYSTERY of the mastery of man over himself, of
suppressing the old man and of vitalizing the spiritual
principle, has been the central idea around which have been
built most of the religious, metaphysical and ritualistic
systems. The definite purpose of every such system has
always been to help mankind to lift itself above the miseries
and limitations of merely material existence by teaching it
how to reach up to wider ranges of experience and insight.
In antiquity the Ancient Mysteries offered the way from
exoteric belief toward esoteric wisdom. The purpose of the
Mysteries in their earlier and unadulterated state was
assuredly a high one, a blending of religious, philosophical
and moral aims. They taught that spiritual illumination was
attained only by bringing the lower nature up to a high
standard of purity, and the initiation in the Mysteries helped
toward the attainment of this object.
The ultimate design of the Mysteries, according to Plato,
was to lead, to a perfect enjoyment of spiritual good. The
neophyte was taught that a conservation of the life energy
and a refusal to expend it in generation, would vitalize and
vivify body and mind and give spiritual powers.
A characteristic of the Mysteries was the careful
gradation of their adherents according to the degree of
purification actually attained. Thus, although all initiates
must submit to a cathartic process whereby the defilements
of the flesh, were removed, the preparatory purification was
of a liberal character, adapted to candidates of every level of
spirituality. At successive stages the rules became stricter.
While for the neophyte purity and chastity were highly
recommended, the initiate was definitely required to
emancipate himself from his passions and to free himself
from the hindrances of the senses. And supreme chastity
was the most glorious crown set before hierophants.
These grades of development with their ever more
stringent requirements truly reflect the degrees of
evolutionary attainment as they exist in the human world
always and everywhere. In our days, without the Mysteries
to guide the classification, each person must decide for
himself in which grade he belongs, and work his way to the
next higher one. But he must never forget that in order to
reach a higher existence chastity is a requisite of the life of
an aspirant.
That great stress was laid in the Mysteries (whether of
Eleusis, of Demeter, Mithra, Orpheus, Isis, or of the Druids)
upon the absolute necessity of sexual purification for those
who were to be entrusted with the secret wisdom, has been
affirmed by many. It has for instance been specifically stated
that a declaration of virginity was exacted in the Dionysiac
solemnities; that asceticism was, the means by which the
true Orphic delivered his soul from the pollution of the
body; that the hierophant and other ministers of Demeter
were celibates; that in Greece
. . . those who took part in certain festivals were obliged to
be continent for some time previously; and that the ancient
Druids lived in strict abstinence.
In the rites of Mithra, in the second degree the candidate
was, sent into subterranean pits to fight the beasts of lust
and passion; and in those of Isis, she ( Isis) is represented as
saying to an aspirant: You shall, deserve the protection of
my divinity by, inviolable chastity. Also among the Goths,
the initiate was prepared to receive the great lessons of all
the Mysteries, by abstinence and chastity.
Everywhere the effect of initiation was meant, to weaken
the empire of the body over the divine portion of man.
Absolute continence, nearly every form of renunciation,
these never lost in the estimation of antiquity their
purificatory value.
Since the Mysteries were the institutions in which these
qualities were all practiced in order to make the candidate
receptive to spiritual knowledge, there was good reason for
the gnostic exhortation: Cease not to seek day and night,
until you find the purifying Mysteries.
 This same advice still holds for any one who longs for a
fuller understanding of life. But the Mysteries to be looked
for are not now embodied in publicly known brotherhoods
and fraternities. The Ancient Mysteries have disappeared as
readily accessible human organizations, for lack of a
sufficient number of worthy aspirants. Yet one can still attain
the purpose of the Mysteries, which was to awaken the
spiritual powers which, surrounded by the flaming ring of
lust and degeneracy, lie asleep within mans soul. This
purpose can still be attained by not ceasing until one fully
understands the secrets of purification and transmutation of
sex, which not only were the subject of Ancient Mysteries but
which are confirmed by modem investigation.

FREEMASONRY
Freemasonry is the conquest of the appetites and passions a
continual warfare of the spiritual against the material and
sensual.

FREEMASONRY RE-ECHOES ill modern times the character

of the Ancient Mysteries. Along with every other ritualistic
movement it may have demonstrated that ceremonies are but
the unsubstantial flowers of the Tao, and that symbols outlast
their explanations; but in its essence, in its ideals, it measures
up to the highest standard of the Mysteries.
As of the Mysteries so the true object of the Masonic
fraternity, is an attempt to achieve the moral regeneration of
the human race. It recognizes that in every man there is a ray,
which ever struggles upward amid the obstructions of the
passions; it teaches that one law of our own nature, speaking
through every nerve and fibre, every force and element of the
moral constitution is, that we must govern our sensual
appetites, and also that this is not the mere enactment of
arbitrary will, but the dictate of Infinite Wisdom.
Against the growing tendency of a materialistic age to
forget that ceremonies are quite useless when only
perfunctorily performed, the more serious-minded Masons
have never held, that initiation alone sufficed.T They have
always acknowledged that the problem of genuine initiation
consists, in freeing the ego from the dominion of the
appetites, passions, and the whole lower nature, because
without this subordination the clamorous lower animal
nature drowns out all higher vibrations.
One need not enter deeply into the intricacies of debatable
interpretations of Masonic symbols to discover that a few
which are generally known contain strong indications of an
intended teaching of sexual purification. The apron for
instance, which should be spotless white, worn over the area
related to the animal passions, signifies the regeneration of
the procreative forces.
Another clear indication lies in the fact that the Compass
represents the spiritual, and the Square the material, sensual
and baser, and in the relative position of these two in
different Masonic degrees. For the Apprentice the points of
the Compass are beneath the Square, indicating that in the
man of ignorance the spirit is concealed and the body and its
passions hold dominion. For the Fellowcraft one point of the
Compass is above and one beneath the Square , the
interlacing of the two symbols showing an attempted but not
yet perfected spiritualization. For the Master-Mason both
points of the Compass are dominant and have rule, control
and empire over the symbol of the earthly and the material,
as a token that it is expected that in the Master-Masons
degree matter is subordinated to spirit.
But what does the symbolism of the Compass and Square
profit a Mason if his sensual appetites and baser passions,
domineer over his moral sense, the animal over the divine,
the earthly over the spiritual, both points of the Compass
remaining below the Square ?
 A strong hint of an original knowledge of the mechanism
of regeneration, of the uncoiling of the serpent, is contained
in the number of Masonic degrees. It can hardly be accidental
that the number of degrees is the same as that of the
vertebrae in the spine. Just as the Mason must rise to the
point of highest attainment through thirty-three Masonic
degrees, so the serpent-fire must be raised through the thirty-
three segments of the spinal column before regeneration is
perfected.
This correspondence seems the more striking when it is
considered that in Masonry every degree, teaches by its
ceremonial as by its instruction that the highest purpose of
life and the highest duty of man are to strive incessantly and
vigorously to win the mastery of that which in him is
spiritual, over that which is material and sensual? After all,
there can be no question but that this Masonic ideal, in its
logical and practical application, involves the occult process
of regeneration by raising the serpent-fire.
At any rate, the statements quoted from Masonic
literature show that in a cornerstone of the Freemasonic
structure lies recorded a recognition of the fact that sexual
purification is a fundamental mandate for spiritual
unfoldment.

THE REAL ROSICRUCIANS

The true Rosicrucians bound themselves to, absolute chastity.

TOWERING ABOVE any organization or occupation of
ordinary humans there seems to have existed, and still may
exist, a secret society of men possessing superhuman powers,
a brotherhood consisting of some of the highest evolved
individuals of the race.
Although very few authentic records about them can be
found, there is evidence that they used a super-masonic
symbolism, carefully kept from crystallizing into a mere
ceremony; a super-alchemic hermetic system, not requiring
laboratory experiments; a super-occultism, enabling them to
be consciously active on other planes of existence than the
physical; and a super-science, giving them an understanding
of the workings of natures finest forces back of all natural
phenomena.
According to this viewpoint the true Rosicrucian
Brotherhood consisted of a limited number of highly
developed adepts, who taught the mystery of human
regeneration through the transmutation of the base elements
of mans lower nature into the gold of spiritual realization.
The real objects of those adepts were to remain no longer
slaves to those things supposed to be necessities, and to rise
superior to, sexual degradation. Their principles are in every
way correspondent to the ancient wisdom.
That their philosophy substantiates the purificatory ideal
presented in this volume can also be seen from a few lines
taken from a tract which is considered to be genuinely
Rosicrucian : Instead of governing the sensuous, man
became involved in sensuosity, He fell from spirit into
matter, and it is now the object of his efforts to regain his
former position, He is still engaged in the battle of the
sensuous against the spiritual. He wants to become
spiritualized but his body attracts him to the sensuous by a
thousand charms, His power of returning depends entirely
on his power to subdue everything that renders obscure his
true inner nature. If even the merely sensuous is deemed to
obscure it, how much more must sensuality eclipse mans
inner spiritual nature!
A real Rosicrucian has been described as a person who by
the process of spiritual awakening has attained a practical
knowledge of the secret significance of the Rose and the
Cross. This secret meaning can be partly understood from
such statements as: that flowers blossom by unfolding has
caused them to be chosen as a symbol of spiritual
unfoldment, and the cross is symbolic of the human body.
When the rose is on the cross the two symbols together
signify that the soul of man is crucified upon the body. With
its material ties and tendencies the body holds the soul in
torturous bondage until man rises from physical generation
to spiritual regeneration.
A practical knowledge of this symbolism may well have
been the reason why the Rosicrucians, became renowned for
the extreme purity of their lives.
At the present time there are many societies
publicly working under the Rosicrucian name. Butthe w h e n
one does not see in such a society a manifestation of t h e
real Rosicrucian life, it must be doubted whether a n y
connection with the original fraternity exists beyond a n
appropriation of its name. For only when he lives t h e
Rosicrucian life can the disciple ever discover the
secrets of that sublime fraternity. .
What the truly Rosicrucian life involves is clearly l a i d
down in one of the Rules of the Order, stating that n o
married man shall be eligible for initiation as a
brother. And why this restriction was made can be
deduced from a sentence in a widely spread Rosicrucian
manifesto, which describes the original group working with
the founder of the Order as all bachelors, and of vowed
virginity.
The real Rosicrucian life is therefore one of strict celibacy.
And if this was deemed basically essential for the high
spiritual standard of Rosicrucian activities, the first step for
any one who wishes to rise out of an ordinary material
existence obviously must be to diminish the wasteful
shattering of the life force.
In that way only will it ever become possible to discover
the existence of the real Rosicrucians, and to understand the
full significance of their teachings.

ALCHEMY
Let him that is desirous of this knowledge clear his mind from
all passions.
OF ALL the symbolic systems in which the idea of the
remaking or transmutation of the self has been enshrined
none is so complete, as that of the hermetic philosophers or
spiritual alchemists.
By the transmutation of metals the alchemists meant the
conversion of man from a lower to a higher order of
existence, from a natural to a spiritual life. The making of
gold was undoubtedly the compelling motive of those
alchemists who were experimentors in primitive chemistry.
But the true alchemists have nothing to do with, solutions,
putrefaction, coagulations or anything of the kind. They were
as far from attempting to produce material goldbricks as
freemasons are from building with common bricks and
mortar. What they wanted was to obtain the pure gold of
wisdom from the inferior metals represented by mans animal
passions. In hermetic writings there occur repeatedly such
phrases as: our gold is not in any way the gold of the
multitude, but it is the living gold; it is the gold, with which
the wise are enriched, not that which is coined; all beings
contain in their inmost center a precious grain of this gold;
one must take this pure spiritual gold, Those who labor with
dead materials will obtain nothing that lives.
The philosophical alchemists used only symbolically the
chemists utensils and vernacular in expounding the truth to
hide it from the unworthy, lest they should be giving the holy
thing to those who think only of indulging their lustful
desires. They taught that alchemy casts off the sensual man,
because sensuality suffocates its germ. Therefore, they said,
we should first study,
how to overcome carnal affections. One worthy of this
science must be strictly virtuous, leading a holy life, a life
pure and unsullied by sensual pleasure from birth.

Alchemy can be fully understood only by those who have

entered on and are working the philosophic process. But
even a partial understanding will show that the culmination
of the secret work is spiritual perfect man.
 This idea is supported by several clear statements in
hermetic writings. One of the alchemists records: I gave
myself over to wisdoms smelting furnace as to a fire of
purification, till all my vain desires and the tares of earthly
lust had burnt away, so that I appeared in spirit as a pure
gold; while another states: I have throughout the whole
course of my life kept myself safe and free from sensuality.
Still another writes: I command all my successors to
spiritualize their bodies..
In regard to the philosophers stone they remark: the
hidden stone is not sensuously apprehended, but only known
intellectually; it is a great mistake to seek for it in material
and external things. Our stone consists of a body, a soul and
a spirit; in other words, the stone denotes spiritualized man
who consciously and by choice is as little susceptible to the
passions as a stone or mineral is in its still unawakened
consciousness. This interpretation of the stone elucidates the
hermetic command: be ye transmuted from dead stones into
living philosophical stones.
About the hermetic elixir of life one writer states that this
potent elixir was naught but the highly concentrated energies
of man, existing in potency and latency in his reproductive
organism. Alchemists themselves have said: our secret elixir
is of a fire-abiding purity, and he who knows, how to make it
homogeny with imperfect bodies knows one of the greatest
secrets of nature; but whoever misuses this tincture and does
not live an exemplarily pure life, will lose the benefit.
The ethical work of alchemy, as of common life, is a
sublimation; in fact there is but a single important operation
in the work; this consists in sublimation; even the first step
of this process, is done through sublimation and purification.
And that this sublimation actually refers to a transmutation
of sexual energy may easily be deduced from the following
quotations.
The great work is, the unification of spirit and body; it is a
natural and radical operation in which our natures are altered
perfectly. First you must prepare your seed; it must be kept
pure and be allowed to ripen. Then the sage enjoins us to sow
the seed in a field which has been prepared with living fire, a
clear transparent fire not unlike the sun. No one can remain
uncertain as to what is meant by this fire after reading that
some call it spirit. The field referred to is the earth or body,
meaning ones own body. This earth must be weeded of all
foreign elements; the body must be purified because you
must have a good soil for the sublimation of the seed into
spiritual power.
Furthermore one is instructed to take a living and
indestructible water, which water is called the medium of the
soul. This water is the foundation of our art. It is a water in
the belly of the earth, and the spirit, has mixed itself with it.
The sages have described its power and efficacy as being that
of spiritual blood. Remembering that the earth represents the
body, these phrases leave little doubt as to what liquid they
refer to. None of it may be wasted, and it is therefore deemed
necessary to close well the mouth of the phial. For the body
must drink of its own prepared water, and become ever purer
the more it drinks.
You must understand that the bodily substance must be
conserved, as being that wherein is the life. You must let it be
your object to solve this substance which the sages have
called the highest natural good. It causes the body to rise
from [spiritual] death to life by being dissolved first and then
sublimated. In this sublimation our water ascends. In such a
natural sublimation or lifting up there is, a separation of the
pure from the impure; and by such operation, the spirit is
incorporated with the body and made one with it. Thus the
body, is made spiritual by its own water.
All this can be accomplished with our water. . . in its
refluent courseTM, that is to say when reabsorbed by the
body. Our ultimate or highest secret is by this our water to
make bodies spiritual. He who knows this, knows the only
way that leads to perfection.
 All these pronouncements, most of which have been taken
from old hermetic treatises, distinctly show not only that man
is the true laboratory of the hermetic art, and that the
genuine alchemists real object was, the perfection of man, but
also that in the teachings of the alchemists the process of
transmutation of the sex force was of primary importance, as
it always must be wherever spiritual regeneration is the aim.

ASTROLOGY
The heavens, eternally witness the promise of the final
redemption of man from his earthy animal soul.

IN its highest aspect astrology is one of the great secrets of

initiation and occult mysteries. To those who are sufficiently
prepared to understand its true significance astrology can
reveal how, from the infinitesimally small to the infinitely
great, every part of the universe acts upon another. It can
show like nothing else that unity manifests as a universal
principle. It can unravel every problem of life in the cosmos.
In its popularized form however astrology is usually
reduced to a fortune-telling game which any one can play.
This petty personal application stands in the same relation to
impersonal cosmic astrology as the keeping of a household
cashbook to the computations of astronomy. Based on its
deeper values astrology . . was once mighty and sublime. It
was not only a method of divination: it implied a religious
conception of the world. It was a scientific theology.
In olden days a high standard was set for the profession of
astrology by the general belief that man must be purified
from all defilement in order to render himself worthy, of
heavenly things. This lofty conception which was formed of
astrology, entailed ethical consequences of supreme
importance.T As a result the ancient astrologers considered
the exercise of their profession as a priesthood. They laid
stress on the purity of their morals and named among the
qualities which brought them near to the divine nature:
chastity, They led an austere life. This was the very condition
of their power.
Inherently chastity must ever remain a requisite for an
insight in the real purport of astrology, because in its
esotericism it is a purely spiritual science. Any kind of a
spiritual knowledge can only be acquired when the fire of
spirit burns with a clear flame within the soul; but all carnal
desires in some measure pollute this sacred fire, and act as a
deterrent on the understanding of esoteric truths.

A simple instance of an astrological influence is that of

the Moon on sexuality. The Moon is the controller of human
generation. The equal periodicity of Moon and normal
menses is an indication of this fact. Furthermore there is
evidence of the existence of a sex rhythm in the male as well
as in the female, in some way related to the phases of the
Moon.
There also seems to exist a very definite connection
between the Moons positions and the ascending degrees at
the moments of coition, of fructification and of birth. It is
claimed that by an application of this astrological
interrelation it is possible to arrange the act of generation at
such a time as will ensure the birth of the child at a favorable
moment. Herein lies a eugenic secret which a purified
humanity some day will be able to apply in calling into birth
a race of supermen. But before we can do more than dream
of a race of supermen we must first remove the menace of
the half-men, who want to turn every bit of knowledge into
selfish use and sense-satisfaction.

For those familiar with astrological lore it may be

interesting to be reminded of the doctrine that the zodiacal
signs were first ten. That is to say, for a long time ten only
were known to the profane; the initiates however knew them
all from the time of the separation of mankind into sexes.
 Up to that time Virgo-Scorpio, were one single sign which
included Libra.
Thus in astrology there is an indication that humanity
was once unisexual. And the separation of the sexes was
connected with the division of the one ancient zodiacal sign
(sometimes called the Eagle) into Virgo (of which chastity is
the guiding principle), Scorpio (the symbol of the generative
function), and Libra (the Balance) of which the name itself
indicates that it holds the balance between the other two.
Mankind has upset this balance which nature had decreed
and recorded in the stars. And man himself must restore it.
When the disturbing element of sex is overcome by the race,
then the three signs will again become the one, the Eagle as of
old. When the fire of human passion has been voluntarily
extinguished by the will, then out of the ashes, phoenix-like,
the Eagle of spiritual power will arise.

Another astrological indication of the evolutionary need of
sexual purification can be seen in the relation between Taurus
and Scorpio.
Taurus, is the symbol of spiritual generative force, which
is logically confirmed by the dominion of this sign over the
throat, the source of the creative Word. Whereas Scorpio
rules the [physical] generative organs. Corresponding to the
generally acknowledged physiological relation between the
sex organs and the throat, there is a special relation between
Scorpio and Taurus. These signs are opposites, corroborating
the fact that physical generation opposes spiritual
regeneration.
Before regeneration can take place the sexual power of
Scorpio must be taken away from this sign and transferred to
Taurus; the generative force of the sex organs must be
transmuted and raised to the throat, where it can find
expression in the Word as a manifestation of the minds
creative power.
 The fundamental idea of the transmutation of the sex
force is also confirmed by the planetary rulers, Mars of
Scorpio and Venus of Taurus.
The very symbols of these two planets are significant in
this respect. Both consist of a circle and a cross. The cross, in
esoteric astrology is indicative of matter or the body. The
circle, denotes perfection or spirit. The symbol for Mars has
the cross above the circle, the material surmounting the
spiritual. But in the symbol for Venus we find significance of
the higher forces dominant over the lower, for it has the circle
above the cross. Hence Venus corresponds to spire, while
Mars is the representative of the animal soul in man. Mars,
constitutes the seat of desire wherein the spirit is
subordinated to the gratification of the senses.
Consistent with progressional law these grosser and
therefore impermanent elements of Mars, are convertible
into the more refined properties of Venus. By purification of
the sexual life Mars will be truly transmuted into Venus, as
experience will teach. Venus cannot act directly upon the
physical plane until the reign of Mars is over and the
passions have changed to, the highest emotions of the
spiritual nature.
All these detailed astrological data may run the risk of
boring the general reader. Yet one more point should be
mentioned on account of its close connection with the
subject matter of =Other chapter.
In a horoscope the home of Scorpio and of Mars is the
eighth house, which is_ generally considered to have a direct
bearing upon death. This reaffirms the very close connection
between sexual activity and death.
It is claimed in occult writings that death was not known
amongst men until the separation of the sexes, until sexual
reproduction began. It was then that Scorpio became
manifest as a separate sign, and with it appeared death.
Conforming to this idea the tail of the symbol of Scorpio
ends in a tiny arrow, representing the sting of death.
 Deadly as the sting and the poison of the scorpion is the
passion of Scorpio and of its ruler Mars. The way to
overcome death is to overcome Scorpios power over the sex
organs, to overcome sexual passion.
As in the course of time humanity grew ever more
materialistic nearly every spiritual phase of astrology was
discarded. But for the student who begins to rediscover its
concealed verities it can convincingly substantiate that
sexual purification is a requisite on the road toward a higher
humanity.

THEOSOPHY
The sexual relation is, a thing to be put aside the moment a
person becomes wise.

THEOSOPHY) the highest summit of thought which the

human mind has reached, has existed since the most ancient
times wherever a human consciousness was able to grasp a
knowledge of divine realities. Through the ages it has found
different expressions in different philosophies and religions,
which are but cloaked embodiments of the same eternal
truths.
Seeking to give a more direct, unveiled expression to those
truths, the theosophists of antiquity, showed how the bonds
of the senses could be broken and the human soul set free.
They showed how each one who so wished might, while in the
physical body, verify some of life's basic facts and laws. At the
same time theosophy always showed that a condition of
purity, far transcending any popular ideal of such virtue, was
the absolute and all-essential basis of spiritual insight and
attainment.
The founder of the modern theosophical movement has
not failed to lay enormous stress on the need of sexual purity
for those who would seek an understanding of life's deeper
verities. It is obvious to any one who knows anything of
Madame Blavatskys writings and of theosophical teachings
that their whole tendency is toward the destruction of the sex
impulse instead of toward its deification.
She taught that the practice of moral and physical purity,
develops self-illumination. She listed abstinence amongst the
conditions under which alone the study of the divine wisdom
can be pursued with safety, and mentioned it as one of the
most efficacious means of, preparing for the reception of
higher wisdom. She pointed out that this wisdom cannot
possibly be obtained unless one first kills the passions of the
physical, to call to life the perceptions of the spiritual man.
She called sexual action the greatest impediment in the
way of spiritual development. And she made it very clear that
sensual self-gratification involves the immediate loss of the
powers of spiritual discernment. For such discernment serene
harmony is a prerequisite; and how can harmony prevail
when the soul is stained and distracted with the turmoil of
the terrestrial desires of the bodily senses? It is only when, all
the lusts and longings of the flesh are dead, that the union
with the higher Self can take place. Since this union can and
must be effected during ones physical life die passions must
first die before the body does.
Such are but a few of Blavatskys numerous unequivocal
pronouncements on the subject of sexual purification. They
found an echo in much of the theosophical literature,
especially in the earlier days of the new movement. There it
was emphatically stated that spiritual culture is only
attainable, as the demands of the flesh are subordinated to
the aspirations of the higher nature. It was recognized that
whenever one experiences these higher moods, perfect
chastity seems indeed an absolute condition of full Self-
realization. It was realized that passions, dim mans
knowledge that he is an immortal spirit, and that therefore
repression of desires is absolutely necessary for spiritual
progress.
 At an advanced stage of the souls development, when men
reach the true spiritual life sex becomes nothing; the entire
forces of their natures are then transmuted into, spiritual
energies.
But before attaining that stage where the sex impulse is
overcome die war between spirit and matter, will last till man
adjusts his outer self to his spiritual nature. Till then the dark
and fierce passions will be at feud with the divine man.
Undoubtedly the animal will be tamed one day, but not
until each one individually undertakes the taming. Then, with
every effort of the will toward purification, the spiritual entity
of man is drawn higher and ever higher.
Thus as to the process of spiritual development theosophy
teaches the control of fleshly appetites and desires. It bases
this teaching on a unique and profound system of occult and
spiritual science, including an unusual theory of evolution.
Thereby it puts the ideal of purification on a deeper
foundation than can be found anywhere else.
REBIRTH
If even the smallest atom of lust has not been eradicated one
will not leave behind him these ever recurring existences.

REINCARNATION teaches that the soul enters this life not

as a new creation, but after a long course of previous
existences on this earth, and that the soul is on the way to
future transformations which it is now shaping for itself.
Thus reincarnation is the belief in the existence of a
persistent individual soul passing through different
incarnations and carrying with it the consequences of its
behavior in previous states.
This belief has not only dominated the ingenuous minds
of all the primitive races, but at the present day
approximately fifty percent of the worlds population can be
said to believe in reincarnation, and it has been accepted by
the greatest philosophers of all countries.
 The main obstacle to a wider acceptance in the Occident
of the idea of reincarnation seems to be that the memory of
the knowledge which we acquired before birth was lost by us
at birth. There must be good reasons for this temporary
oblivion. One of these reasons undoubtedly is that the
remembrance of former conditions and relationships,
including those of a sexual nature, would bias ones opinion
about associates with whom ties of the past must be
adjusted. Whatever took place in previous incarnations must
have been digested and transformed into elements of
character which enable one to cope with new experiences.
The resultant character is the essential thing; the means by
which it was developed may just as well be forgotten.
However, it is not considered impossible to recover the
seemingly vanished memory of the immense fund of
experience gathered through countless ages, a fund
accessible to us only when the tumult and stir of the bodily
senses is stilled. From the subconsciousness which is the
abode of everything that is latent, the memory of the
incarnating ego. . . can be recalled through the action of the,
regenerative force. This force can only become active by a
conservation of the life energy and a refusal to expend it in
generation, or in any sexual act. When ones being is thus
purified there arises before him the firm imperishable
memory of his past experiences, for by the observance of the
rules of purification, one obtains the faculty of remembering
former births.
Uncontrolled psychic visions, which are supposed to be
connected with previous incarnations, may occasionally be
had by an un-purified sensitive; but such negatively received
impressions can never be accepted as in any way dependable.
Purification of the sexual life clearly is considered to be an
ineluctable requisite for a reliable memory of past births.
The doctrine of rebirth, untangles the knotty problems of
life simply and grandly — in the realm of sex as well as in
other spheres of being.
 For instance that a child brings along into the world
germs of sexual activity is seen as but the natural result of an
artificially strengthened sexual impulse in former existences.
Where a craving for sexual gratification has been nurtured in
the past it will be flagrant in the present. Reversely, to the
extent that such inclination is subdued will it lose its power in
subsequent incarnations, and so much easier will be the
ultimate victory over sensuality a victory that is evolutionarily
imperative.
All our successive incarnations are intended to improve
the conditions for the realization of our highest endeavors,
which are hindered and thwarted by our carnal passions.
Only by repeated incarnations the soul is able to realize the
futility of the search for happiness and satisfaction in
material things. The value of reincarnation lies in the fact that
attempts to improve life are strengthened in succeeding
incarnations until final perfection is reached. As long as we
are not pure enough, we must be born over and over again
and the degree of our impurity determines what these births
shall be.
Every lower impulse and craving is pulling, toward
rebirth upon the earth. And as long as that attraction toward
physical existence necessitates rebirth each soul enters the
world for a certain and definite purpose, and occupies the sex
which will best enable it to fulfill that purpose.

Reincarnationists are convinced that those who are here

today will be a part of a future humanity. Hence they must
see that the way to prepare a better future race, and
therewith a better world in which to reincarnate, is to
ennoble and purify the present one — beginning with that
little portion of it over which they have full control, namely:
with themselves.
Gradually the human entity will learn to overcome the
physical attractions and temptations and will be born, with a
consciousness which refuses to let him go wrong. In the end,
through the purification of his moral character he will attain
deliverance from the necessity of rebirth on the physical
plane, and be free to manifest in fully awakened, unbroken
awareness in this or in other worlds.
The sooner one begins to purify his nature from sensual
inclinations, the sooner will freedom from compulsory
incarnation be attained, and the sooner will existence
become possible on a plane where death and suffering are
unknown.

RETRIBUTION
At least half the worlds misery is in some way connected with
the sexual sphere.

LAW LINKS effect to cause in every manifestation of nature.

Of many physical phenomena the cause has been
discovered by science. Where a cause is still unknown
science does not deny its existence but tries to find it. In its
own dominion physical science asserts that nothing can take
place without a definite cause.
In the sphere of human life students of metaphysical
science have recognized that also in individual existence
whatever arises is inevitably the effect of a previous cause,
and that moreover the cause must have been set up by the
same individual whom the effect affects. In this way only can
it be true that all that befalls man befalls him justly; thus
only can it be that justice rules the world. But to people
delighting in desire the law of causality, will ever be a matter
difficult to understand.
Looking at a single life this law of causality — or of
retribution or, as it is often called, of karma — is not always
apparent. Seemingly without due cause some peoples path is
full of suffering, while with others good fortune abides; and
actions, baneful as well as worthy, often seem to remain
without any rebounding effect. Only when rebirth is taken
into account the law of retribution with its infallible justice
 becomes intelligible. Combined with the law of retribution
the doctrine of reincarnation accounts for the inequality
observable in the lives of men on earth, giving a logical
reason for the same, and establishing the fact of universal
and ultimate justice accountable for on no other grounds.
The believers in karma and reincarnation alone dimly
perceive that the whole secret of life is in the unbroken
series of its manifestations.
After all, the belief that no act, whether good or bad, can
be lost is only the same belief in the moral world which our
belief in the preservation of force is in the physical world.
Nothing can be lost.
As long as life brings pleasant experiences these are
readily enough accepted as the natural result of personal
merit, as a compensation to which the person — usually for
no noticeable reason — feels entitled. But when misery
comes along, responsibility for its cause is but rarely
acknowledged.
Only the law of retribution can lucidly explain how all
human suffering is caused by man himself, and how the
greatest misery results from his abuse of sex. There can be no
doubt that abuse of the sexual function is responsible for
much moral, mental and physical suffering.
In whatever form misfortune may strike, it is necessarily
self-attracted. The origin of every evil, is in human action,
and thought. Its origin rests entirely with reasoning man who
dissociates himself from nature. All inharmony, tribulation
and despair, are the direct result of violations of laws of
being. And by far the greater part is the result of the willful
refusal to obey the moral law. Each violation of this law
becomes a force in the direction opposite to that toward
which evolution is working, so that instead of helping toward
regeneration it drags down toward degeneration. Human
misery is, an expression of degeneration and a symptom of
spiritual decay. All impurity, leads downward to decay, if not
immediately in the same life on earth then in another
incarnation.
According to those who accept reincarnation as a fact the
unconsummated effects of whatever man has caused will
meet him when he comes to live on earth again. The human
entity enters the embryonic stage, with its doom pronounced
by itself. It enters a male or a female body according to the
experiences which it has to go through. It is automatically
attracted to such parents as can supply hereditary elements
of body and of mental equipment in accord with its own
character. It is attracted to such surroundings as will justly
provide what it deserves and needs; and to persons with
whom ties were made in the past that will have to be
adjusted — the strongest and most unpleasant of such ties
having originated in sexual affairs.
Every sexual act like every other act must cause some
future reaction. And since most sexual acts, except those for
propagation, are in discord with nature, the reaction comes
as a rule in the form of misery. For we cannot interfere with
the normal course of nature without some consequent evil
result.
The mission of the reproductive energy is to secure the
continuance of the human race, The consequences of every
transgression will be serious in the highest degree. Wasting
the life force is bound to result in a later lack of that force, in
an incarnation of physical invalidity, of mental limitation, or
in one that is cut short. Irresponsibility in spreading
venereal disease may bring rebirth in a prenatally tainted
body, with congenital and lingering ailments. Inconsiderate
procreation is likely to bring sickliness or loss of children
and painful childbirth. Contributing to some one else’s
delinquency must cause ones own future degeneration. For
every sexual error one must somehow atone.
Abuse of sex is at the very root of woeful retribution. The
curse of karma was called down . . as the result of wasting
the life essence for personal gratification. To this alone must
be attributed the evil propensities — the curse of a thousand
ages of animality — with which our race is afflicted. By just
retribution, our flesh now torments us by insubordination;
and this it will continue to do until we discontinue every
form of sexual abuse.
Self-evidently sex purification will free us from the
overstimulated driving force of the sexual impulse; and it
will help to build a future free from all the misery to which
most sexual acts give cause. Already the very longing to
realize the spiritual ideal in reproduction, of itself tends to
lessen suffering.

PSYCHISM
The un-purified person, can arouse only the lower psychic
forces.
With OUR physical senses alone at our command none of us
can hope to reach beyond gross matter, which veils our
internal vision and, muffles our internal hearing.
But there are certain faculties latent within the
constitution of man which if they become developed, call a
higher scale of internal senses into activity, and these may
enable him, to hear, see, taste and smell things which far
surpass the powers of perception of the external senses. In
every human being there are such latent faculties by means of
which he may acquire for himself knowledge of the higher
worlds, and by which he may prove to his own satisfaction
that the supernatural is only the natural in an extraordinary
grade.
Unfortunately the development of these interior senses is
neglected almost to atrophy. And the capacity to respond to
spiritual vibrations has almost entirely been lost as a result of
the sexual perversions of the race. He who has become
corrupted does not easily rise to the sight of true beauty, He
rushes on to enjoy and beget, and is not even ashamed of
pursuing pleasure in violation of nature. Every chance for the
development of a safe and reliable higher psychism is thereby
lost, because the soul suffocated with the body and with lust
cannot see any spiritual things. The real world, is not to be
entered by those whom the body binds to its caprices.
The connection between spiritual seers and the
physiological purity of the seer is of paramount importance.
Only increasing control of the lower centers, permits the
emergence of the higher transcendental perceptions.
Therefore, for the beholding of the hidden things shalt thou
forsake, the things of the flesh.
Spiritual awakening is necessarily accompanied by more
or less psychic development. But psychic development is by
no means a sign of spiritual awakening.
A low-grade, unreliable and unsafe form of psychism is
possible even without the slightest touch of spirituality.
Impressions of a superphysical nature are sometimes
negatively received by so-called sensitives. But such psychism
is destructive to the un-purified, who may succeed in
arousing it. The mere dabbler, will only degrade his intellect
with the puerilities of psychism and become the prey of the
misleading influences of the phantasmal worlds. The road to
the psychopathic ward is crowded with un-purified,
unspiritualized sensitives.
The development of psychism can never be
recommended. It should not be sought, but come as the
natural concomitant of pure spiritual growth. Where a
tendency to psychism appears while purity is imperfect, that
tendency should be counteracted and entirely overcome in
order to prevent the almost unavoidable deteriorating results
on mind and morals.
Psychism is safe only after the casting out of every
element that might still respond to sensual vibrations. It is
safe only when we can assimilate the influence of the purest
spiritual forces. And we can receive this influence only when
we liberate ourselves . . from carnal occupation.
At the present time, particularly amongst students of
metaphysics and of the semi-occult, theories are rampant to
the effect that Underproductive coition in certain ways can
give spiritual upliftment. Mistaking emotional exuberance for
spirituality, it is erroneously thought that in the sexual union
a spiritual ecstasy can be experienced.
No greater and more dangerous fallacy could be invented
to beguile the students. No more tempting excuse could be
presented for whatever sensual tendencies may be residual in
their nature. No act of self-indulgence can awaken any
spiritual response. Under no circumstances can impure acts
on the physical plane cause spiritual growth. To teach the
opposite is a spiritual perversion. Every attempt to link a
physical expression of the lower centers with superphysical
experiences can at most lead to the development of a
psychism of a deceptive and dangerous order.

Carnal expression of any kind whatsoever debases the

forces of psychism which are tenable and valuable only in
those who, find these forces awakened within them by the
very purity of their nature and by the intensity of their
aspiration for the spiritual life.
Pure psychism calls for sexual purity.

MAGIC
Whoever wants to all practice the art of magic, should leave
carnal affections and material passions.

WHERE SCIENCE ends magic begins. Magical operations

are the exercise of a power which is, superior to the ordinary
forces of nature — that is to say to the objective forces which
are used by physical science. Magic deals with a subjective
power latent within man.
The power magical, sleeps in man since the knowledge of
the apple was assimilated; and so long as this knowledge
dominates, the noble magical power is lying dormant. What
has here been called the knowledge of the apple quite
 evidently refers to the abuse of sex for self-gratification.
Since that abuse is said to keep the power of magic in
abeyance, it follows that the functioning of this power is
achieved through continence. At least continence is regarded
as one of the conditions required for the successful carrying
out of magical operations.
Certainly not without reason have the magicians in all
lands and times insisted on chastity. For the magus has to
employ forces which nature usually keeps hidden; and there
is no other way of penetrating into the deeper secrets of
nature than the development of the higher nature of man.
Hence in every respect the theurgist must imperatively be
one of high morality. He must be impassable and chaste,
Most important is the attainment of this rare preeminence.
Magic is the performance of the miraculous, and only an
abstemious mode of living can produce such an acuteness of
the senses that the greatest and most remarkable things may
be performed. In order to work miracles we must be, above
all passions. Therefore it was a very excellent opinion of the
ancient magicians that we ought to, decline the impulses of
the flesh.
Everywhere the first lesson of one who would become a
magus is self-mastery. And always sexual passion, is
categorically forbidden to the magus. In fact it has been held
that in itself to obtain command over the serpent is to become
a magus.
The statements made so far refer particularly to white
magic, so called in contradistinction of black magic or
sorcery.
White magic works impersonally with the powers of the
spirit to help and to uplift others — never for the promotion
of selfish interests, never in any way for the aggrandizement
of the personality. But such unselfish spiritual operations
require the greatest purity. For only when man has outgrown
his animality can his organism become a fit instrument for
the exercise of spiritual powers. Therefore the white
magician, seeks to transmute the poles of the beast within
himself into higher and finer qualities.
Every attempt to utilize spiritual powers to indulge the
personality constitutes black magic. Whether the purpose be
to satisfy feelings of hatred and revenge by hurting others, or
to acquire private benefits in the form of health or prosperity
or other wish-fulfillments — it is far from white magic and
must be classed with the black art. This takes in the
widespread selfish use of affirmations, of concentration and
suggestion. Though not always decidedly evil, such use of the
spiritual powers of unity for the sake of the separated self is
against natural law; and it is dangerous, if only because it
reinforces self-centeredness and thereby retards ones
spiritual evolution which calls for the gradual dissolution of
the feeling of separateness.
Except for the lowest forms of sorcery sexual purity has
long been considered a necessary asset for almost any kind of
magical performance.
Even many savages are perfectly well aware how valuable
sexual continence is, to acquire the aptitude for abnormal
powers. Almost universal among primitive
peoples are certain forms of ascetic practices inspired by
motives magical. Thus we hear of celibate wizards and of
virgin witches.
In regard to the office of medicine-man, which is found
among aborigines in every part of the globe, continence was
often required throughout the whole novitiate of individuals
in training for the office. And afterwards in their healing
work stress was laid not only on their own continence. Yet
more surprising, was their caution of not admitting polluted
persons to visit any of the patients, lest the defilement
should retard the cure. The emanations of any one who
shortly before had had sexual intercourse were considered to
be detrimental to the convalescent.
In the magical tradition of all ages it has been generally
surmised that the chaste individual was the abode of
supernatural power. Also that sexual purity insured
protection against evil influences, that for instance a person
cannot be bewitched, if he has extinguished all the surging
of carnal concupiscence. And it was believed that sexual
intercourse, removed the magical efficacy of a charm, which
otherwise would exert a shielding power.
So, in the study of magic lore as in that of so many other
subjects one comes across much evidence that sexual purity
has always been held to be of enormous value in many ways.
Some of those subjects may seem of little practical value,
because hardly any one cares to become either a magician or
a psychic or a yogi or a mystic. Yet each subject contributes
its little share to the central idea that there exists an innate
power in chastity.
In the course of evolution magic powers beyond present
humanity's wildest dreams are waiting to be developed. But
as long as one remains subject to the slightest stir of self and
of sex the faculty to use such powers to any measurable
extent would be as injurious and calamitous as a sharp
dagger in the hands of a little child. It is therefore fortunate
that the schools of white magic conceal these powers from
man until through purification and unfoldment he gains the
proper incentive for using them.

YOGA
Yoga manuals know the symbol of the serpent which the
individual has to overcome in order to acquire valuable
powers.

Since immemorial ages India has known and taught the

science of Yoga, the way by which a man may hasten his
evolution and expand his consciousness. To this end the
Yoga philosophy insists strongly on certain spiritual
exercises by which the soul may best obtain and maintain
peace and quietness.
 Peace and serenity and the elimination of undesirable and
disturbing influences seem even more necessary in Yoga than
in other spiritualizing methods. Therefore the study of Yoga
is impossible in the scattered condition of thoughts, desires
and feelings amidst which an ordinary person lives. In the
hectic existence of the whole Western world there is
practically no chance for an effective following of Yoga
practices. Yoga was originated in and for the East, not for the
West. Although the final goal of spiritualization is
everywhere the same, the methods of approach are
somewhat different under differing racial conditions as well
as for different individuals. A rule however which all
methods have been shown to have in common is that of
perfect chastity, essential as it is for the transmutation of the
generative force.
Attempts to westernize the Yoga teachings have led to
simplified adaptations which not only are usually ineffective,
but which become dangerous whenever they fail to insist on
an absolute cessation of physical indulgences. Any one
attracted to Yoga must well consider that it is a very
dangerous thing to adventure in this path without the moral
foundation of perfect self-control. Without it the practice of
Yoga, may lead to insanity.
The five known systems of Yoga may vary in their
methods of self-discipline, adjusted as these are to different
psychological types; but the opening of a higher
consciousness is the aim of all Yogas. And for all, the sub-
dual of the senses, is an essential prerequisite. So all-
important is this requirement that sometimes particularly
this, the firm holding back of the senses, is what is called
Yoga. The general drift of Yoga remains always the same, It is
to serve as a discipline for subduing the passions. When this
discipline is omitted there can be no question of Yoga, nor of
spiritualization or of illumination.
Not only do the Yogis know that sex energy must be
conserved and used for the development of body and mind
instead of being dissipated. They also realize that the greatest
impediment to the acquirement of Yoga powers is, sexual
action. Therefore as a first step the student is trained and
tested by the command, that continence must be made the
basis of life. Right from the beginning there must be perfect
chastity in thought, word and deed.
Only if lust ceases, worldly bondage will cease. Then by
absence of all self-indulgence, pure spiritual being can be
attained. But first, when the intelligence has ceased to take
pleasure in the things of sense, and therefore has seen the
truth, the perfection of the powers of the bodily vesture
comes about through the wearing away of impurities.
Thereupon from steadfastly following Yoga, comes
illumination. And if a person, is constantly freed from the
senses the infinite, supreme Yoga is perfectly produced.
Like mysticism, and like every other system for spiritual
development, Yoga has often led to extreme one-sidedness.
Many of the so-called yogis are the outcome of lopsided Yoga
practices. Their demonstration of freakish physical body-
control obtained by tremendous will power, or their
performances of psychic or magical tricks resulting from
exceptional concentration — these do not in any way
exemplify the spiritualizing force of Yoga. In such cases
concentration and body-control, which to some extent
belong to the genuine means of a higher development, have
been overemphasized and made the end of attainment.
Even among those yogis who show a semblance of
spirituality a distracting one-sidedness frequently occurs.
Dropping their interest in everything in this world, their
purpose often becomes exclusively self-attainment; whereas
true spiritualization is inseparable from a longing and an
effort to be of greater service to humanity. Such yogis seek
union with the cosmic parent-life by trying to go back to
foetal existence, where with eyes closed to the world and
without effort they can feel to be one with Mother Nature,
leaving everything to her. In other words, they seek a passive
oneness of dependence. Whereas evolutions aim is an active
oneness of equality, resulting from a wide-awake use of the
mind combined with a laborious acquisition of the spiritual
powers which will gradually enable one to become the
Fathers competent assistant and co-worker.
Where the Occident has become blinded to the necessity
— and even to the existence — of spiritual development, the
Orient has neglected the exercise of the concrete mind. For
this reason Yoga, too, generally does not fulfill the
requirements of a balanced evolutionary growth.
However, this is not the place for a critical study of Yogas
shortcomings. The present point of interest is only that the
first requirement of Yoga, as of every system which serves to
make spiritual development possible, whether it be for the
East or for the West, is sexual purification. One who wants to
become a perfect yogi must give up the sex idea?

OCCULTISM
All sexual intercourse is forbidden in practical occultism.

ON THE beach of the unfathomable ocean of life we are all

playing our games or absorbed in our favorite pastimes.
Proudly the athlete struts along the boardwalk, showing off
his inflated muscles.
Along the waters rim the scientist proceeds, exclusively
intent upon investigation of whatever the ocean has cast
ashore and brought within his reach.
Sun-shaded sits the artist, registering impressions of
what he observes around him and what is inspired to him.
Outstretched lies the philosopher, speculating upon the
being of sea and sky and land and living creatures and their
interrelation.
Forgetful of surroundings the religionist in devotional
attitude bows his head, adoring the unknown force that
manifests in natures magnitude.
 On the sand within the tidal strip the psychic rests in
negative receptiveness, letting the waves touch him
whenever the flow comes up.
The magician is attracting wide attention trying to make
the tide recede by strange manipulations and a mighty
exercise of will.
The mystic, after meditative contemplation, so longs for a
momentary merging with the ocean of the one life that he
dips into it; but not knowing how to swim he is soon rolled
back upon the shore again.
When the waters are untroubled, the surf unstirred by
wind, the yogi dives and serenely swims a while in the
samadhi sea.
Looking and watching over all from an elevated point
stands the occultist. He is the life-guard of this beach. He is
here to help others, ready to render aid whenever called
upon. He knows the ocean well, has thoroughly explored it
and is at home in it; with eyes unclosed he can go down as
deep and stay down as long as he may wish. He observes
more, knows more, and can do more than any of the others.
Each of the others is but an incomplete expression of
single aspects of the occultist. He is the synthesis of all the
others. He exemplifies a progressive stage of balanced
evolutionary growth toward superhumanity.
The designation of occultist is frequently misapplied to
dabblers in theurgic and pseudo-occult crafts, or to students
of occultism who are still as far from being occultists as a
kindergarten pupil is from a doctorate.
The accomplished occultist is a highly and harmoniously
evolved human being in whom all faculties of body and of
soul can be used at will. He has risen above the danger of
clinging tenaciously to any one-sided form of development;
for him all-round perfection is the chosen goal.
Abundant physical vigor, scientific understanding,
artistic inspiration, philosophic speculation, religious
adoration, intuitive receptivity, mystic contemplation, yogic
concentration, magic will-power, plus other still more
wonderful abilities are all acquired by the successful occultist
— each to an extent beyond the comprehension of those who
seek to specialize in any single faculty.
The true occultist does not use any of his attainments for
the worldly benefit of the personality, nor to enhance its
glamor. He brings all the powers of the soul into expression
in the personality for the sake of helping others. And by the
growing impersonality of his being, which is of the very
character of spirit, he gains access to the source from which
all power springs.
To become an occultist, then, is the acme of human
attainment. But occultism gives no prospect of cheaply and
immediately gained infinitude of wisdom. In the first place
he who would become an occult student, must continually
increase his moral strength, his inner purity. The laws of
attainment demand purity of life. Whoever wishes to come to
the supreme state of the soul, must purify his mind and body
from all passions. For this reason all training in occultism
has asceticism for its key-note.
An essential requirement is knowledge, not only of
physical science but of the science of all superphysical laws as
well. And in order to be able to acquire it the student must
lead the life necessary for the acquisition of such know-ledge.
The study is of no avail unless the spiritual intuition is
developed by the purification of desire. T The sanctuary of
esoteric science is closed to the frivolous, by the law of their
own nature. Only by way of purification, can the soul acquire
the perfect knowledge of all things knowable. Therefore the
passions, are not to be indulged in by him who seeks to know.
He alone who disaccustoms himself to concupiscence makes
his heart acquainted with secrets, with those deep secrets of
nature which it would be dangerous to divulge to any one
remaining ever so slightly sensual or selfish.
It is the reward of the conqueror who, vanquishes the foes
of his own nature, that he has imparted to him the secret
knowledge.
 Not until knowledge has thus been acquired is it safe to
attempt the development of any occult powers.
If men knew the divine powers which are dormant in their
constitution, and were to pay attention to their development
instead of wasting all their energies upon the trifling affairs of
their external existence, then there would soon be many
competent occultists.
But men either do not blow and do not even want to know
about such powers, or if they know about these they are
reluctant to believe that occult science allows not a shadow of
self-indulgence. But woe to those who, dabble in any form of
occult science without first overcoming the more important
faults of their lower nature.
Carnal passion, suppresses the faculties of the soul. Hence
the insistent demand that the disciple of occultism above all
must be absolutely chaste, both physically and mentally.
Whoever, after having pledged himself to occultism, indulges
in the gratification of a terrestrial lust will feel the almost
immediate result of being dragged from the impersonal
divine state down to the lower plane of matter.
The sooner the animal sexual affinities are given up
the sooner will come the manifestation of the higher occult
powers. Then only can harmonious evolutionary progress be
made; and then the consciousness of power, in itself the most
exquisite joy, is unceasingly gratified in the progress
upwards. Infinite power, to be impersonally, unselfishly,
constructively used, will then eventually become available. Is
such a prize not worth the sacrifice of the personality’s self-
indulgence?

THE PATH OF PERFECTION

Having conquered the desires of the outer senses, prepare
now to enter upon the path.
SLOWLY WINDING to the top of the Mountain of Perfection
leads the road of gradual evolution. From this road the top is
rarely visible, the view being cut off by mystifying thickets
and by luxurious groves which tempt the wanderer to pause
and straggle and to forget the goal. But occasionally a glimpse
is caught, and a jubilant cry is heard from those who took a
shortcut to the summit.
The shortcut is the steep and narrow path which is known
to many but which few are inclined to follow. It is the path
which leads from sense to soul, the straight way to the land
concealed by the dazzling phantasmagoric show of the senses,
the short though difficult way by which man evolves more
rapidly than in the ordinary course of human evolution.
But only he may tread that path who dares to declare war
on desire. To enter the path, one must crucify the lusts of the
flesh.
Throughout the centuries the short path has been known.
All the great faiths have taught, that in a certain personal
austerity was a gate to the eternal way. That way, the highest
way, goes he who shuts the door to all his senses.
This path Hermes, indeed, described. It is the path that
leads to truth, difficult to tread for soul while still in body; but
it is possible for one who has the mind to free himself from
passion.
It is that path, which the teachers of the Veda call never
failing; the path which persons of conquered passions enter,
and desirous of knowing which they live the life of purity.
It is the path, the Way, of the Taoist. He who treads the
Way is a superior man; and the superior man guards against
lust.
It is the Buddhists noble eightfold path, which leads to
peace of mind, to the higher wisdom, to full enlightenment.
The wise are those who, follow the noble path and avoid the
pools of lust.
It is the path of holiness of which the Bible states that the
unclean shall not pass over it.
 It is the path of the Mohammedan Sufis, by whom the
celibate ideal, was realized as invaluable for all win sought to
follow the mystic way. Only when cleansed from the lusts of
the flesh the soul could enter on the path.
For mystics everywhere it is the path of purification,
illumination and perfection, the three great stages of the
ascent. The first stage is known as the purgative life, the
stage of purification from the fetters of sensuality. The end
of the path is attained, by transmutation.
To modern students of metaphysics it is the path which,
through probation and discipleship, leads to initiation. The
pilgrim who ventures upon it is made first to, shut out every
human passion. During the probationary stage the wish to
be emancipated from the thralldom of the senses should be
ever present in the mind. If the higher levels of spiritual
attainment are to be reached the disciple must be prepared
to sacrifice and transcend the desires of the body. The desire
for sensual gratification must be crushed before initiation
can be reached; for initiation is, the victory of the spirit over
the animal nature of man. Whosoever is the slave of his
passions can never be initiated.
The opportunity to choose the shortcut is the same for all.
The same for all also is the universal rule that mastery of
the sex force forms the initial step on that path of quickened
evolution. The victors crown is only for him who, conquers
the demon of lust.

TESTS AND TEMPTATIONS

Too weak is the temptation for one whose soul to nobler
things aspires than sensual desires.

EVERY TEMPTATION is a test of moral strength. At every

stage of evolutionary growth the law of that growth causes
temptations to be erected on the pathway of the soul. Lacking
the strength to overcome these natural obstructions one
cannot pass on to the next lap of the road.
Since life is a continual battle between mans spiritual
aspirations and the demands of animal impulses, the first
temptation which meets every one on the road is the hunger
of the lower qualities. And in ever subtler ways the animal
proclivities are tested to the end. Even the highest degree of
perfection attainable by man is no security against the
assaults of temptation.
At a comparatively advanced stage ones vision of the
requirements of attainment may be obscured by the allure of
the false teaching that in physical sex expression there is
mystical inwardness and that it can be the means to a great
spiritual fulfillment. Many who are already far on the road of
spiritual unfoldment fail to perceive the speciousness of such
sophistry. But the guardians of natures secrets, let none pass
until they are furnished with the signs and passwords of
perfect purity.
The greatest strength by which to pass through tests and
to overcome temptations is that of purity. Not the negative
purity of innocence caused by ignorance, but the positive
purity based on knowledge and power of the will.
Dissatisfaction and dejection normally follow each failure
to overcome an enticement. But when one has conquered
temptation, one finds oneself in a state of peace and
satisfaction which may well be called happiness; then there is
elation over growing strength.
It is sometimes claimed that temptations should be
sought because they serve to increase ones moral strength.
But this is an obvious error. Strength must be gathered
between successive tests, just as knowledge is gathered in
schools between examinations. To submit to one examination
after another without preparatory study would certainly be
abnormal. Not less abnormal is it to seek one excitement and
temptation after another without intervening effort to
develop resistant strength.
 Tests of ones moral stamina need never intentionally be
sought. When the soul seems ready to pass another milestone
on the evolutionary road, then life itself applies the necessary
test according to ones stage. And no one can pass unto
another section of that road who is not thoroughly prepared.
Nor can one ever pass by shirking the test.
The individual task is to prepare for tests by developing
greater moral strength, by obviating every weakness of
character. And since above all else passion, manifests the
weakness of man, the first thing to be eliminated is passion.
Quite naturally the tests become more difficult as strength
grows.
Those who approach the final stages of the road have to be
tempted in a thousand various ways so as to draw out the
whole of their inner nature. Then if the candidate has a latent
lust for sensual gratification of any kind, the germ is almost
sure to sprout. However, it is in his own interest that his
character and attributes are being tested; for until he has
been tested to the utmost none may know what hidden
weakness lingers in him. And no weakness may remain in
those who seek admission to the temple of purely spiritual joy
to which the road finally leads.
This thought is tersely expressed in the saying that Satan
is the doorkeeper of the temple, He holds the keys of the
sanctuary, that no one may enter therein save the anointed.
By tempting every one who approaches the gate that leads to
spiritual attainment, he sees to it that only those pass through
who have successfully proved their purity and inner strength.
For the same purpose in ancient Egypt the snake Bai
appears to have been figured, as guardian of the doorways
leading to chambers which represent the mansions of
heaven.
Again the same idea is forcefully dramatized in the story
of Parsifal, who symbolizes the human soul. He was tested
by Klingsors seductive agents, the Flowerrnaidens and
Kundry. Said Klingsor, the arch-temptor, to Parsifal: Into
 my power thoult fall when pureness has departed. Only by
proving that there was no weakness left within him which
could make him fall for any temptation did Parsifal gain
access to the sublime spiritual precinct of the Grail.
It is the same testing that has been so picturesquely told
in The Pilgrims Progress where, for instance, the pilgrim
learned that after playing with treasure Passion, had
nothing left him but rags. It forms the subject matter of The
Sorrows of Satan and of The Devils Guard; and it holds the
central interest in many other occult stories.
This periodical testing of the soul — which is intensified
on the shorter, steeper path of quickened evolution — forms
the basis for all symbolic rituals of initiation, from Ancient
Mysteries to modern Masonry. But the real tests, the
subtlest and the hardest, occur in the lives of those who are
filled with aspirations for spiritual growth, aspirations
which are ever being debased by our lower animal nature.
However, him whose senses are utterly subdued, whom
no desires can lead captive any more — by what temptations
can ye draw him? He has risen above temptation by being
unassailably pure. He is no longer the subject of temptation,
for he has entered into the reign of law.

REGENERATION
When you have conquered entirely all sex desires, then the
regenerate body becomes a vessel to hold spirit.

CLOSELY ALLIED are degeneration, generation and

regeneration, caused as they are by one and the same force.
The difference lies in the way in which that force is being
used. Degeneration results if it is misused sexually for
physical gratification. Generation normally follows its use for
reproduction. In order to bring about regeneration the
selfsame force must be transformed in the individual into
spiritual power.
 Regeneration, is the turning of the generative force to
purposes of spiritual enlightenment. It means the awakening
of the higher consciousness. To be regenerate is to be born
into spiritual life. Those who have gone through the
experience have testified that it is literally true that there is, a
new birth possible to embodied man, which shall manifestly
develop the potencies of his spiritual being. This second birth
leads to the attuning of the individual consciousness with
that which is universal and divine.
The new birth in every conceivable direction adds to the
capacity of mind and body; it produces great mental and
spiritual strength, which if directed intelligently will develop
supernormal powers. And the flesh itself shall be clarified.
The regenerative forces which now slumber in mans inner
nature, when roused into activity transform him ultimately
into a divine being.
In the process of regeneration a person actually builds a
new body for himself. Cell by cell is renovated and raised to a
higher vibration by the transmuted life force. This is the
most important evolutionary accomplishment of man.
Propagation, is wholly subordinate to the primary and vital
use of ones generative energy in reproducing from hour to
hour ones own body.
Regeneration, then, is tantamount to rebirth without first
passing through death. It is as though entering into a new
life in a new world, with new laws and new experiences,
through an inner change while remaining in the body. There
is no regeneration after the body has died.
But although the process takes place without death of the
body, yet something must perish, something must be killed
before the new birth can eventuate. The regeneration of man
depends on the destruction of everything that obscures his
true inner being. Not any particle of ones old sensual nature
can be taken along into the spiritual birth. The process of
this birth is described as, a purging out of the tendencies of
the lower nature and replacing them by the energies of the
divine powers. Not until this has been accomplished can
there be born within the earthly man of flesh a new spiritual
man. And thereafter the physical man is felt to be. . . an
instrument through which the spiritual man works; whereas
the spiritual man is felt to be the real individuality.
This spiritual state is as far superior to mans ordinary
terrestrial existence as the latter is to his foetal condition.
The sage arrived at this state has the truer fullness of life, of
life not spilled out in sensation. But this cannot happen
before every animal element is eliminated from ones nature.
Every person has to make preparation for his own
regeneration.
When the life force is functioning for physical generation
it is differentiated into a male and a female aspect, requiring
the cooperation of the two. But in the process of evolution
sex energy, turns inward within the organism and creates in
it a new life, capable of regeneration. In this new form the
force is alike in woman and in man. And not only is the
spiritual energy alike in the two sexes, but the organs
through which regeneration operates are the same in
woman and in man. Therefore regeneration must be
achieved by each one separately.
Not every one however can successfully and fully bring
the new birth about in a short time. This is possible only for
the man or woman who has attained a very high state of
mental and physical purity. One cannot go far in this
direction until the spirit impresses upon the consciousness
the fact that one must overcome carnal generation and must
absolutely stop all waste of the seed. In other words, for the
task of giving new birth to oneself celibacy is the first and
absolute prerequisite.
The reason for this requirement is that as already stated
in both, generation and regeneration, the same potent force
of nature is involved, namely the force concerned with the
sexual organism. This force can be directed either to the
physical generative organs in the body’s lower regions or to
the spiritual regenerative organs in the head. But so entirely
different in every respect are the functions of regeneration
and those of generation that they are antagonistic and
mutually exclusive. All generative, all sexual expression
must cease if spiritual regeneration is to be effectively
produced.
In this fundamental idea of regeneration is to be found
the explanation of the universal insistence upon chastity
. . . on the part of great spiritual leaders. No truly spiritual
leader can be lax or lenient on this point. Regeneration
requires perfect chastity because the mystical birth of man,
is based on the transmutation of sex energy. Man cannot
become regenerated so long as he plays with generation.

UNCOILING THE SERPENT

Through practice the serpent power, which is coiled,

becomes

IN ALL preceding chapters the ideal of sex purification has

been substantiated by manifold considerations. By
cumulative evidence the fact has been brought out that
perfect purity is of paramount value whenever an individual
wishes to comply with the law of spiritual unfoldment.
Each of the many substantiations contributes in its own
way to the acceptability of the ideal of perfect chastity.
Founded on the mass of material already presented, this
ideal might well be left to stand without needing any
additional support. Yet one of the most fundamental reasons
for the necessity of sexual purity in spiritual development
has not yet been given.
All the miscellaneous applications of chastity, must
ultimately be based on physiological phenomena. There is a
close approach to such an ultimate basis in the physiology of
the Occident, in its new knowledge about the internal
secretions of the sex glands. In addition to their importance
in regard to body and mind, every bit of evidence points to
the internal secretions as the holders of the secrets of our
inmost being. There is a growing recognition that the
reproductive system is the reservoir of vital energy upon
which to draw for all the activities and achievements of life,
including the spiritual. But as long as Western science almost
generally continues to ignore the spiritual element, the
knowledge of the essential factors of sexuality is still
withheld from us.
For the rationale of sex purification one has to turn to the
meta-physiology of the less materialistic Orient, where the
modus operandi of spiritualization has been the subject of
extensive study for thousands of years. Particularly in regard
to spiritual science our vaunted Nordic intellect needs to
learn respect for the claims and assertions of the Oriental
mind. There one can learn about the working of natures finer
forces within the human frame; about the real purpose of
some generally little understood organs in the head; about a
series of chakras or psychic nerve centers, of which the
glands are only the outer symbols; about force channels and
force currents along the spinal column; and about the
Kundalini, the mysterious serpent fire at the lower end of the
spine.
Because those psychic centers are not visible, not
dissectible, not measurable with physical instruments, their
existence is not recognized by Western scientists. But the
fact that no microscope can detect such centers on the
objective plane goes for nothing, since they are evidently
built of finer matter than can possibly be observed by any
physical means. And as regards the forces and the fires of
occult physiology, their existence may be accepted for the
same reason that we accept the existence of ordinary nerve
force and of mind. These are just as little tangible, and are
known only by their results. In the same manner the secret
fires and forces have proved their existence in the results
obtained by those who have learned how to use them.
 One might prove the presence of such forces in oneself.
But the difficulty is that the working of the spinal fires is so
tremendously involved that many years must be spent in
learning to understand even the fundamental principles.
Briefly stated, it is taught in the far East that in woman
and man alike there is a power, called the Kundalini. It is at
the base of the spinal column, that this mighty occult power
lies coiled like a serpent asleep.
An impersonal as well as an individual meaning is
attached to this all-important force.
In the widest sense the Kundalini is the creator and the
sustainer of the universe; it is the universal life principle
which everywhere manifests in nature. Kundalini is
therefore the mightiest manifestation of creative power in
the human body.
Thus Kundalini may well be held to be the individualized
power divine, planted in the body as a seed out of which it is
intended that a perfect human flower shall develop. This
divine seed can be left, as it is generally left, in the generative
region, to be eaten away by the worms of sensuality or to go
to waste by neglect without a chance to sprout. But a wise
man should take it up from its place to the middle of the
eyebrows; he should carefully tend it, so that it may
germinate and shoot a stem up along the spine. Not without
good reason does the spinal cord — that high-tension
transmission line of nerve force — run from the lower part of
the trunk to the head. It is along this line that the life force
must be diverted from the generative system and carried up
to the organs of regeneration near the top of the skull.
Once the serpent power is aroused into activity, it is made
to penetrate one by one the psychic nerve centers until it
reaches the thousand-petalled lotus in the brain. But so long
as man can be controlled by his senses it is utterly impossible
for him to revive that now atrophied center in the head,
which is essential to the control of the truly creative forces.
Having worked its way up to that point, the serpent power
opens the highest spiritual center of man the thinker, man
the knower, man the creator, man at last in the image of God.
In the transference of the fire from the base of the spine,
lies the redemption of man. With the raising of Kundalini,
with the uncoiling of the serpent fire, comes the
advancement of the race to superhuman glory. This is what
natures law of evolution has intended for mankind, for man
and woman alike.
The intentional arousing of Kundalini cannot be strongly
enough warned against until a very high degree of
preparatory purification of ones whole being has been
brought about. And a theoretical study of the intricate ways
in which Kundalini manifests is not strictly essential to
advanced evolutionary growth. For whether or not one who
aspires to spiritual unfoldment has any knowledge of the
serpent power, it becomes nevertheless active in the body.
Whether or not one is aware of it, nature responds to ones
spiritual aspirations by arousing this force when one is ready
for it. Its ascent to the brain is inseparable from progressive
evolution.
Even with conscious cooperation of the individual the
uncoiling of the serpent still remains a slow and difficult
procedure. Any one who sets himself the task of perfecting it
will have to repeat the process for years, never allowing one
speck of impurity to stain him mentally or physically. The
thought, the will and the morality, must first be purified
before they are intensified by the vivifying influence of the
aroused force.
There is most serious peril in awakening the higher
aspects of this energy before man has acquired the purity of
life and thought which alone make it safe for him to unleash
a potency so tremendous. The action of the serpent force,
should be preceded by the most rigid purificatory discipline,
because the fire is destructive to the un-purified who might
succeed in arousing it. When prematurely aroused before the
attainment of utmost purity, the dangers connected with it
are very real and terribly serious.
Just as long as the force of Kundalini is held down to the
organs of generation by sexual acts or thoughts, so long will
it be unable to rise to the sublime organs of regeneration and
of creation. And if it is drawn down after beginning to rise,
the cataclystic disturbances in the currents of finer forces
react on the rest of the body, and especially on the brain, in
such a way that physical and mental disorders are sure to
follow.
Once Kundalini begins to rise, the close connection
between the brain and the reproductive system necessitates
an absolute conservation of life energies. That is the essential
point which may never for a moment be forgotten.
These physiological, or at least meta-physiological facts
constitute the final and fundamental reason why perfect
sexual purity is essential for those who seek to quicken their
evolutionary growth.
But others too should remember that as long as humanity
plays with the sacred serpent fire it will suffer from the
resultant burns, which cause the pains of average human
existence. Everybody should heed what a knowledge of
Oriental meta-physiology makes clear: that the miseries of
existence can be extinguished only by arriving at a condition,
free from passions. Every act of sexual indulgence and of self-
gratification retards the possibility of liberation from woe.

THE FUTURE
Is the human race never to arrive at this highest grade of
illumination and purity?

WE ARE traveling along toward an improved humanity

which will attain the realization of those higher aspirations
which, emerge in the hearts of the spiritually-minded who are
prophetic of a better future.
If we so willed, we could speed on toward our ideal
evolutionary destination.
But we hamper our progress by carrying unnecessary
baggage, and therefore only slowly and uncomfortably
advance towards the perfection that awaits us. If we could
part with all the surplus baggage, of which the desires for
sense-gratification constitute the bulkiest portion, then we
could fly instead of trek unto the destined goal. There, still
within the boundaries of the human kingdom and of physical
existence, we would find a world which is separated from the
one in which most of us now live — separated not by physical
distance but by grades of consciousness. These grades can
easily be passed by any one who is willing to take the steps
required for spiritual unfoldment which always brings
expansion of consciousness with it. If the spiritual life grows
towards perfection, it will reveal a new world which exalts us
far above all petty human considerations.
Some pioneers, prospecting in that new world, have
signalled messages about their findings to single travelers
along the road, and these messages have been relayed to
slower moving groups. In their reports the pioneers tell of
finding marvelous treasures of matchless joy, in comparison
with which humanity's present pleasures are insipid and
childish. They have discovered spiritual springs ensuring
radiant health. They mention beauty never paralleled, as the
natural manifestation of spiritual qualities untainted by
blemishes of self or of sense.
They have crossed the line which marks the end of
human suffering. This they look back upon as a scourge
produced by man himself, which the economy of nature has
utilized to advantage as an aid in the development of higher
qualities in him for the advancement of his evolutionary
growth.
They report a wondrous expansion of intelligence to
which natures deepest secrets become plain. They have
acquired an understanding of realities of which all that we
now know is only a distorted incomplete reflection. And with
their wider knowledge their power of expression has vastly
grown.
They testify to the development of higher faculties which
admit them to a realm of new splendors, where they can hear
the symphonies produced by sunset colors and by fields of
flowers, and where they are aware of the music of the
spheres. They speak of new dimensions which make distance
non-existent; of penetrating with extended vision into the
densest matter; of seeing the thoughts of others; of letting
past and future pass like moving pictures before their inner
eye; of consciousness unbroken and of death overcome.
Some of the wayfarers who have not yet quite reached the
fields of the new world have added to these messages of the
pioneers tales of their own experiences. As they approach the
goal they have felt life grow brighter, richer, fuller of interest.
They have received a foretaste of the joys of the new world.
In that supreme and happy world all the trials of the
human race will be over. But in those who are to participate
in this new world every vestige of mere impulse must vanish.
Into that paradise, nothing impure can enter. Perfection
cannot be attained without complete purification. In
overlooking this fact lies the error of Utopian dreamers who
would establish ideally purified social conditions without
enjoining purity of emotions and of thought, without
exacting purity from passion. They will only agree in
adopting a political treatment for a disease which is spiritual.
Human improvement is from within outward. Spiritual
regeneration must come first, political and social last.
Without the reform of man social reform can have no lasting
effect. For this reason every sociologically idealistic colony
has failed and will fail until stress is laid on purification from
within. But perfected world conditions will automatically
result from individual spiritual perfection; and a true sign of
perfection is found, in a full liberation from sexual passion.
 Spiritual humanity not only understands this perfection
with the intellect, but accepts it in its conduct. Spiritually
inclined man takes care that passion no longer rules and
blinds him to universal laws and higher principles. He sees
sex as a universal problem, given in the school of life to be
solved in the mental-human grade. Ones spiritual faculties
begin to be trained while seriously working on this problem;
they are dulled when the problem is taken lightly and
degraded into a game.
All mankind must gradually solve that problem and learn
the lesson of unselfish renunciation which sex in its intended
purity was meant to teach by instilling a loving, self-
forgetting attachment to and care for others. When that
lesson has been learned to perfection humanity will overcome
and outgrow the need of sex which, as a universal institution,
will become as obsolete as its concomitant elements of sexual
desire and of concupiscence.
Undoubtedly nature will eventually do away with its
system of separate sexes and institute another way of
reproduction, just as it has changed from non-subservient
methods in the past. It may be expected that the present
sexual organs will then become entirely useless vestigial
organs to be forgotten by those who have outgrown their use.
Occultists have definitely claimed that this mode of
procreation, is but a passing phase, which will change, and
disappear. The most learned occultists assert this, because
they know it. And men of science already begin to suspect an
evolutionary process drifting slowly and inevitably into the
neuter state.
However, before an outer change can become general
mankind itself must have established an inner change. It
must have produced a future humanity more elevated morally
than ours. We must first see both sexes, winnowed of
materiality and weaned from sensuality. Before nature makes
a change mankind must free itself from the strangling grip of
the serpents coils, and reach the highest moral perfection to
which the human race can attain.
SUPERMEN
Such men are even now upon the earth, serene amid the half-
formed creatures who should be, joined with them.
As THE ripe fruit is hidden within the blossoms hard green
bud, so is a sublime superhumanity hidden within the
present rudimental human race. Ultimately the future
belongs not to man but to superman. Humanity is
something that must be surpassed. Even the best is still
something that must be surpassed.
In the process of evolution the vegetable kingdom has
surpassed the mineral, the animal the vegetable, and the
human the animal. So the superhuman kingdom shall
surpass, and has surpassed already to some extent even the
highest human specimens.
A definitely marked expansion of consciousness
distinguishes each of natures kingdoms from its next lower
one. Gradations from the animal to the god, must be
measured by the progressive deepening and expanding of
consciousness. The highest examples of each kingdom are
those in which a trace of the expanded consciousness of the
next higher kingdom begins to show. The highest animals,
for instance, are not the ones in which instinct finds its most
remarkable expression, such as it does in ants and bees; they
are those in which is found a sign of self-conscious intellect.
So also the highest human specimens are not the most self-
conscious personalities with the most remarkable intellects,
nor the scientific geniuses, nor the greatest industrialists,
nor the most powerful empire builders. All these may be
wonderful examples of extremely well developed human
efficiency; but they no more approach the superhuman than
an ant or bee approaches the human stage.
The development of man towards superman cannot
consist in the growth of the intellect alone. The expansion of
consciousness, the inner growth of man, is the ascent
towards superman. The highest human beings are those who
show in spiritual development a rudiment of the wider, of the
well-nigh divine consciousness which characterizes the
superhuman kingdom. Only the heroes of supreme
renunciation, touch the nebulous beginnings of a
superhuman nature.
To each kingdom the expanded consciousness of the next
higher must necessarily remain incomprehensible for lack of
a faculty by which to comprehend it. To the animal
consciousness a human creature can be no more than just
another animal; and to the purely intellectual human being a
superman will seem to be no more than human. It requires
spiritual faculties to even vaguely sense the transcendent
superiority of the superman.
It is therefore quite possible that superman, is already
born and lives among us without being recognized by the
majority of mankind. It is quite conceivable that there should
exist and long has existed on earth an evolutionary advance
guard consisting of individuals who are
. . . as far above human beings as the latter are above
animals, and who can act superhumanly, that is after a
manner which transcends the normal possibility of men.
In some of the old Hindu books, written thousands of years
ago, one may read in story after story, how these perfected
men, known as superhuman by the powers that they
possessed, visited the courts of kings in order to see that
kingdoms were well governed.
In the days of ancient Egypt, also millenniums ago, Hermes
Trismegistus, spoke of holy men whose knowledge and
comprehension of divine wisdom immeasurably surpassed
that of humanity. But these, he said, are rather immortal
than mortal men, and their humanity is near divinity. Clearly
he too was speaking of supermen. Men dweLling on the earth
and yet not of it they were called by Apollonius of Tyana at
the beginning of our era.
 In the seventeenth century Philalethes must have had
supermen in mind when he complained that every sophister
contemns them because they appear not to the world. And
he explained upon what grounds they conceal themselves by
saying that no man looks for them but for worldly ends. For
this same reason people are still looking for them in vain.
For all worldly, separative, selfish intentions automatically
preclude the possibility of contact with the selfless, unifying
forces of the supermen.
In the eighteenth century Eckartshausen was acquainted
with the unique and really illuminated community which is
in possession of the key to all mystery. . . This community
has no outside barriers, Any one can look for the entrance,
but only he who is ripe can arrive inside.
A Rosicrucian work of the same period contains another
reference to supermen. It distinctly states that a direct
intercourse with them is not possible for man unless he
becomes sufficiently purified, and that only by a proper
course of spiritual training can we come in contact with
those beings.
Much later again one who had established an
exceptionally close link with them wrote on this possibility
of contact: Merely the magneto-psychic law of attraction and
repulsion keeps the Adepts from exchanging thoughts with a
man who lives, among the magnetic fumes of carnality and
of spiritual atrophy.
And a great thinker of our own days has said that man is
separated from superman, by the fact that he is not prepared
to receive superman. And rarely is he willing to make
himself worthy of the contact.
Carnality and spiritual atrophy these must be overcome
before man can be a candidate for conscious contact with
superman. The candidate must, be perfectly chaste, perfectly
abstemious, because the impure are not permitted to
approach the pure. This requirement does not necessarily
exclude the rare, pure, sacrificial sexual act for the sake of
giving a soul a chance to come into the world under
favorable parental conditions; but it disallows the slightest
expression of carnal gratification.
As to the supermen, it is the spirit of chaste asceticism
itself which incarnates in these elect. Of them it has been
said that they are individuals who . , . rising by the steadfast
subordination of their lower and by exaltation of their
higher nature have at length made of their bodies
instruments of their souls and means of expression instead
of sources of limitation for their spirits. They have been
described as profoundest of intelligence, widest of culture,
ripest of experience, tenderest of heart, purest of soul,
maturest of spirit. Only to them and to those who know and
follow their method is it given to live the life of the spirit
while in the body. And they bear testimony that one who is
all spirit and love will have conquered the flesh even in
memory.
In the world of superman the uncoiled serpent has been
disentangled for ever from sex, and its energy has been
transmuted into almost unlimited knowledge and supreme
spiritual power. These faculties are awaiting all who will take
in hand their evolution from the human toward the
superhuman state by steadfastly practicing the required
subordination of the lower and exaltation of the higher
nature.

COSMIC CONSCIOUSNESS
The cosmic sense crushes the serpents head.
LOCKED IN a dark dungeon of ignorance, shut off from the
rays of spiritual light, man can but speculate upon the source
of the feeble gleam that occasionally penetrates through the
inadequate apertures in the walls of his prison. Pacing up
and down and round and round he vaguely philosophizes in
the abstract. But abstract thought and philosophic
speculation alone cannot bring more light into his prison-
cell. Some definite action must be taken to widen the
apertures and to tear down the walls.
Outside there awaits beyond all mental powers, a state of
consciousness in which the highest wisdom and power are
attainable. It is the state of infallible cognition of eternal
truth and of absolute reality, the state that has been called:
the cosmic consciousness. This is a higher form of
consciousness than that possessed by the ordinary man. It
can be known by no one except by him who has experienced
it. Those who live within the realm of animality, do not even
believe that such a state can possibly exist. Only he who
vanquishes as much as possible a corporeal life, can live
surrounded with the bright splendors of truth and wisdom.
All sensuous impressions form a wall between the soul
and the world of reality. Absolute truth does not exist for
sensuous man; it exists only for spiritual man who possesses,
a faculty which cognizes spiritual objects as naturally as the
exterior senses perceive external phenomena. Man, cannot
observe the splendor of eternal verities so long as he is held
by the attraction of the senses.
To develop the consciousness of reality, it is necessary to
rise above merely human aims and conditions.
The struggle for reality must be a struggle to transcend the
sense-world, to be reborn to a higher level of consciousness,
and to rise by free action to the higher plane of cosmic life.
In order to succeed in this attainment it is especially
requisite to rise above the disturbing emotions of sex. For
once having freed oneself from the entanglements of the
fleshly lust, man enters into a higher state of consciousness,
and automatically begins to grow toward the cosmic
consciousness of the superman.

Cosmic consciousness, must not be looked upon as being

in any sense supernatural, or as anything but a natural
growth. But certain definite requirements have to be met
before it can manifest. It is necessary for its appearance that
an exalted human personality should exist. Above all one
must have an exalted moral nature.
Just as long ago our ancestors passed from simple
awareness to self-consciousness, so our descendants will
sooner or later reach, as a race, the condition of cosmic
consciousness. And then, away from every form of self-
gratification, the race will acquire an ever greater share of
cosmic spiritual power.
This power, the rightful heritage of man, can already
now successfully be claimed by all who are willing to
renounce the deceptive excitements of sense and of sex for
the ecstatic cosmic consciousness, the consciousness of
oneness. But its states of bliss are possible of attainment
only through transcending the reproductive tendencies
altogether.

ONENESS
The love of the sexes, symbolizes at a distance the longing of
the soul for that immense lake of beauty it exists to seek.
ONENESS Is the keynote of spirit. The question of attaining
this oneness is the most essential question of the inner
development of man.
Deep in every human soul lies the knowledge of that
oneness which finds a constrained and deformed expression
in the search for happiness by union with external things.
The reaching for a toy, the desire for pleasure, the fondness
for delicate food, the grasping for possessions, the urge for
sexual union — all are distorted manifestations of the longing
for a realization of basic spiritual oneness, for unification of
the self with the not-self.
Those who are seeking life in the things that perish
. . . are but unconsciously, blindly groping after the ineffable
joys of the spirit. They seek without exactly knowing what, in
a direction away from oneness. They seek in things external
what only within themselves can be found. They seek in the
material what inheres in the spiritual world.
At best the physical union is like an allegory, of the real
union. The earthly expression is but a symbol. But who, after
having glimpsed the real union and after being aware of the
reality of spiritual oneness, can be satisfied with allegories
and symbols? Who wants to accept substitutes after mowing
that realities can be obtained — especially where the
substitutes detract from and prevent the acquisition of the
reality?
The greatest cosmic reality is the oneness of all life, the
oneness that exists above all seeming separateness, beyond
all apparent duality. The way toward a realization of that
oneness is covered with an almost impenetrable growth of
selfish idiosyncrasies of the separative personality. These
have to be cut down before the oneness can consciously be
reached. Complete self-effacement of the material
personality must necessarily precede a realization of
impersonal spiritual oneness. For this purpose every element
of passion, which is always selfish, must make room for
compassion; and personal love for one, after being developed
to its highest and purest state, must be expanded into
impersonal love for all.
The more spiritual a person becomes the more cognizant
also will he be of the identity of his own innermost being
with that of all other living forms. In his inmost self man is
related to other selves in such a fashion that he lives in them
and they in him. With increasing spirituality comes a fading
of the feeling of separateness of the individual from other
individuals, of the family from other families, of the nation
from other nations, of the human kingdom from other
kingdoms of nature. The more of spirit can manifest the
nearer one approaches to the consciousness of the identity of
ones own nature with that of all things, and the higher one
rises above the concepts of separateness and of duality. But
only when the mind becomes free from all desires and
passions the idea of duality ceases.
 Only by rising in consciousness above sex can the
oneness of all life be realized. For sex itself is an expression
of duality, and all self-gratifying sexual activity emphasizes
and strengthens the separative personality. Moreover, as
long as the lower physical centers are used for self-
gratification the higher spiritual centers cannot be utilized
for the necessary elevation and expansion of consciousness.
A persevering effort to bring about self-purification and
spiritualization until all separateness is overcome is needed
to bring one closer to a conscious realization of oneness. And
the nearer this is approached, the greater the joy of living,
which ultimately develops into an impregnable felicity.

DEATHLESSNESS
The serpent brought death into the world.
EROS is mysteriously connected with death.
The association of death and reproduction is indeed
patent enough. However, it is not death that makes
reproduction necessary, but reproduction has death as its
inevitable consequence. The kingdom of death is
maintained, by carnal reproduction. The human race knew
death only, after the separation of the sexes. Sex as it is is
the beginning of death. To expend life in human embraces is
to strike roots in the grave.t
These appalling statements, selected from the writings of
eminent, unprejudiced minds, may sound phantastic and
unbelievable. Yet, when a medical scholar declares in
scientific language that erethism of any kind, in both male
and female, represents a katabolic crisis, he is but saying
that any kind of excitement or stimulation of the organs of
generation is a disruptive waste of energy. And this
practically affirms that the carnal way is the way of the
breaking up and scattering of the life force, and the end of it
is death.
 In lower forms of existence it has been definitely
observed that the reproduction of many types is followed by
the death of the individual, often within a few hours after
propagative activity. And although it is one of the trends of
evolution to lessen the physiological strain of reproduction,
it remains true also in the human kingdom that
reproduction is a drain on the parent.
The passions, wear out the earthly body with their own
secret power. All amorous passion, is a whirlpool seeking to
draw us down into the gulf of death. Qabbalistically
speaking the serpent caused death to the whole world. In the
mythologies of various peoples the serpent is concerned,
with the origin of death.
From the concupiscence of the flesh, death has drawn its
origin. With the general spread and stimulation of
concupiscence death, has appeared in the course of
evolution. Hence death is, accidental rather than natural;
death may be said to have become an imported accident into
the scheme of things.
God did not make death. Man has created it himself.
The quoted statements might suggest the thought that
persons who never commit a sexual act should not be
subject to death. But in the course of time the racial habit of
wasting the life force has so impressed itself upon the seed
that concupiscence and loss of vital fluids occur even in
those who are most meticulously continent, so that for them
too there is no immediate escape from death. The germ-
plasm from which present humanity is raised has been so
weakened by careless, sensual propagation that unduly early
bodily decay as well as death seems to have become the
unavoidable fate of all. Through heredity the body is no
longer capable of producing normal and well-vitalized seed.
Allegorically expressed the serpent has poisoned, the source
of all organic life.
Decay of the living body as well as death can be
overcome by the purifying process of spiritualization, by
which the natural laws that apply to coarser matter are
transcended. By this process the body elements that do not
harmonize with the higher spiritual vibrations are gradually
cast off and replaced by finer, almost etheric atoms. The
physical man must be rendered more ethereal.
Like the fugitive who successfully casts away in his flight
those articles which incommode his progress, beginning
with the heaviest, so the aspirant eluding death abandons all
on which the latter can take hold. For this purpose the
candidate for longevity. . . must begin to eschew his physical
desires; especially the sexual desires, for these, are direct
attractions to a certain gross quality of the original matter.
And he must beware, of impure and animal thoughts.
Purification of the body, of the emotions and of the
thoughts is necessary in order to weaken the resistance of the
lower elements of the personality, if the spiritual individual
wills to postpone and finally to overcome death. In this way it
can come about that when men are innocent life shall be
longer. The actual prolongation of human life is possible for
so long as to appear miraculous and necessary.

It is not unreasonable to expect that in the end the body

can be made deathless. For old age and death, are
pathological. Death is not a universal accompaniment of life,
death is not an essential attribute of living matter. Nor is
death an absolutely necessary phenomenon in the existence
of a composite living body.
However, no one can expect suddenly to attain
deathlessness. But every one can make an effective
beginning with the struggle against death by taking up the
struggle against sex. Doing this one shall gradually by
experience discover that with the extinction of sensual
desire man is released of deaths most powerful bond.
To withstand the allurement of generation is to graduate
in the conquest of death. This is equivalent to the biblical
statement that he that overcometh shall not be hurt of,
death. When the sexual urge has been entirely overcome
man can become truly the master of his fate, even in regard
to birth and death. For then a physical body can be taken on
when wanted, to be used as a perfect instrument for self-
expression during centuries if so wished; and such a body
can be laid aside at will for any length of time while the
human entity lives on in unbroken consciousness.
Thus he who will conquer sex will conquer death.

IMMORTALITY
When a person is able to conquer the passional nature he is,
conjoined to the immortal state.

ESSENTIALLY WE are spirit. And since spirit is eternal and

immortal we are inherently immortal. We are only mortal
because of body, but because of the essential man immortal.
However, we are not conscious of our immortality
because we identify ourselves so largely with our mortal
bodies; for in so far as a man turns to the mortal part of
himself, in so far he makes his mind incommensurate with
immortality.
Hence in order to become conscious of his spiritual
immortal state man must overcome his attachment to the
ephemeral existence in the physical body. Furthermore he
must expand mentally from accumulating knowledge to a
search for wisdom, because by wisdom immortality is
reached. And above all else he must rise to an exceptionally
high moral standard, because also along with moral
elevation, comes a sense of immortality.
To gain a realization of immortality it is necessary to
renounce every semblance of immorality and to transcend
the relative morality of ordinary mortals. The mortal
becomes immortal, only when all desires cease. By
crucifying the man of flesh and his passions, and by the
restraint of the senses, man becomes fit for immortality. The
mortal shall put on immortality. . . when trained to
everlasting chastity.
 As expressed in the traditions of many peoples the
serpent, defrauds the human race of the gift of immortality.
Therefore the first step toward [a realization of] immortality
is to gain full control of the sex function.
In order to live as a conscious entity in eternity the
passions, must die.
Immortality is the secret of transmutation; only to those
who entirely transmute the sex force can that secret be
revealed.
To the man or woman who resolutely pursues the path of
purity, will come unfailingly the consciousness of
immortality, and therewith a continuous conscious
existence with ever greater wisdom, greater freedom,
greater power, and greater joy.

EPILOGUE
The ideal of spiritual intuition to be reached through moral
purity represents an eternal fact.

IN THE NOW completed mosaic picture of an ideal concept

imperfections will undoubtedly be found to exist in some of
the numerous particles of which it is composed. But the
ensemble is relied upon to leave an impression of the grave
significance of its leading motive. Out of the multicolored
mass arises everywhere in plain design the basic motive,
embodying the assertion that PERFECT PURITY IS AN
ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT FOR ADVANCED
EVOLUTIONARY GROWTH.
It is not claimed that purity alone will be sufficient to
bring about quick and astounding results. Even under the
most favorable conditions growth remains a gradual
process. Other requirements for evolutionary development
are sufficiently known and recognized. The need of sexual
purification, however, is so often overlooked or ignored or,
as in the case of many supposedly spiritual leaders,
 unpardonably slighted, that it called for separate
accentuation.
Nobody is advised to become a perfect celibate, unless an
inner urge betokens readiness for such a resolution. No
sudden, drastic changes are recommended to any one. Some
are farther away than others from the point where the ideal
beacons. Some therefore have to take more steps before
coming near enough to be in constant contact with its
radiant energy.
But everybody should understand that the salient
benefits of higher attainments cannot be acquired without
the practical realization of sexual purity. Howsoever far one
still may be away from the ideal, it can be seen by any one
who looks in its direction. A beginning can and eventually
must be made to move toward its light. Each for himself
must find out just where he stands, and how fast he will go.
Little influence can be exerted from the outside, except by
mental persuasion.
The only purpose of the laborious compilation of data
contained in this volume has been to present as convincingly
as possible the existence as a fact in nature of the
evolutionary need of individual sexual purification. Evidence
has been supplied that the profoundest thinkers have upheld
the ideal of purity as a golden precept of paramount natural
law. Of it the great moral prophets, have spoken with a
certain approach to unanimity. All the great teachers of the
world are agreed in protesting against the dominion of
appetite in the life of man. All the great organized religions
have seized on the value of sexual abstinence, and embodied
it in their system, in order to teach their adherents to
transmute the sexual into spiritual energy.
The historians of civilization seem to be unanimous in the
opinion that a deviation of sexual motive powers from sexual
to new aims has furnished potent components for all cultural
accomplishments. In fact, limitation of the sexual
opportunity must be regarded as the cause of cultural
advance.
 Psychological researches reveal that the placing of a •
compulsory check upon the sexual impulses, produces
thought and energy, thereby promoting individual and racial
evolutionary progress. Various branches of human
knowledge, from biology and ethnology to alchemy and
occultism, have been shown to point in the same direction.
Moralists both ancient and modern, have never ceased to
urge men to refrain from seeking sexual indulgence, even
though often they did not understand and therefore failed to
explain the evolutionary importance of such abstinence.
Philosophers who verged on contact with spirit through
abstract thought, mystics who reached the plane of spirit in
devotional experience, and many of the noblest amongst
humanity have always realized that chastity, both as practice
and as principle, is a biological and psychological moment, of
profound significance. They have insisted on the need of
sexual purity. And the nearer man approaches superman the
more insistent sounds the exhortation.
That so many of the most advanced of the human race,
independent of one another, in different ways, from different
viewpoints, in different places and at different times, have
come to the same conclusion, is in itself an indication that
the ideal of purity is of universal scope. Adding together all
the factual and circumstantial evidences that have been
presented, we can hardly fail to see that this ideal contains a
truth of everlasting value, and that sexual purification is a
requisite for the harmoniously balanced physical, moral,
mental and spiritual development of the race.
Man can delay the evolutionary process. He can
antagonize the law of growth. Tarrying in the labyrinth of the
senses, where spiritual light can never penetrate, he can
philosophize that spirit does not exist. In the material world
he can establish ways of living from which all loftier
considerations are left out.
This is what has been done, and what in modern times is
being done to an ever greater extent. Amongst other things
the spirit has been removed from sex, and the dying body is,
infecting the dissolving civilization. The very existence of
civilization and of the race is endangered by adherence to the
illusory senses and by a denial of the sublimer elements of
life.
Mankind’s salvation, even physically, depends upon an
emergence from the hypnotic spell of the senses. Not until
this spell is broken can humanity perceive the radiant light of
spirit, absorb its vitalizing rays, share in its joy and
glory.Every one is free to choose between the petty pastimes
of the senses and the gradual development of superhuman
power.
But whatever choice is made by individual or race, the
laws of nature remain immutable. They proclaim that
evolution must eventually go on. The deadlock must be
broken. The sensual side of human nature, must be brought
into complete subordination to the spiritual.
Souls who refuse to follow this decree are threatened with
removal from the evolutionary system. Persisting, they are
likely to perish as individualized souls, even as nations and
races which have dashed with spiritual progress by clinging
to matter and to the senses, have perished in the past.
Over the ruins of destroyed Atlantisses and Sodoms, over
the obliterated graveyards of all sex-addicted races, evolution
must march on toward a lessening of sexual expression — on
toward exaltation of spiritual faculties. Only those who are
willing to cooperate with the evolutionary plan can keep up
with the march, and reach the goal where burdensome
existence changes into the rapturous sublimity of being. END